\3
''^^lANS
Bv/.O CIJROA
CHICAGO,
Satan's Sanctum.
"I am to speak of stories you will not believe;
of beings you cannot love; of foibles for which
you have no compassion; of feelings in which you
have no share."
— W. Mc. Praed
By L. O. CURON.
C. D. PHILLIPS & CO.
CHICAGO.
Copyrighted 1899 by
I.. O. CURON
PREFACE.
The present Mayor of the City of Chicago was
recently re-elected. A large number of independ-
ent voters, deeming one issue a dominant one,
which, in fact, was no issue at all, assisted in again
bestowing on him the most important office in the
municipal government.
The legislature had repealed a law under
which evil, through the threatened action of cor-
ruptionists in the Council, might have been visited
upon the city. That they were powerless to in-
flict it had been demonstrated prior to the repeal
of that law and prior to the election. His compet-
itors entertained, upon the question of the exten-
sion of street car privileges, the same views as his
own. Both were men of as great ability as he,
and each had, and still has, a reputation for per-
sonal integrity not surpassed by his. Both were
men more mature in years, and possessed wider
business experiences than he. Hence, either of
them could have been safely entrusted with the
4 Preface.
powers of the executive. Neither of them, how-
ever, could invent, for campaign purposes, so
catching, so powerful, and yet so sophistical, a
political phrase as "The streets may be dirty, but
they still belong to the people." To the inventor
of that cry the Mayor owes no small political
debt.
It might be inferred from the large vote he re-
ceived that, as a public servant, he had been tested
and not found wanting. With respect to his per-
sistent opposition to the extension of street car
privileges, without adequate compensation to the
city, and for a period not in excess of twenty
years, it should be said he bravely and manfully
did his duty, following, however, not leading pub-
lic opinion on that question. All danger from that
source had disappeared when the polls opened in
April last. His competitors stood, on that morn-
ing, as honorably pledged to throttle it, if it again
appeared, should either of them be elected, as
he did.
It cannot, however, be said that during his first
administration he did his whole duty. It is a pe-
Preface. 5
culiarity of the American people that they always
praise, with exaggeration, an official who partly
does his duty, if the part performed is regarded
by them as especially serviceable to the public. He
had the benefit of so much exaggerated praise from
a press that, for nearly two years then last past,
had been condemning him, that some people were
charmed into a sort of hysterical admiration for
him. He had the happy faculty of concealing
the shortcomings of his first administration, un-
der cover of a supposedly overshadowing danger.
Thereby he caused his previous record to appear
as if free from blemish, and that he had performed
every duty — and performed it well. The very
adroit use of this faculty is the only reason why
he received a plurality of votes so much larger
than that of any other candidate nominated on the
same ticket with him for a minor office.
His best friends did not contend that he did
his full duty. They now only hope he will do so.
A public official is not entitled to praise, or thanks,
for doing his whole duty. He is elected for the
purpose of its performance. But full performance
6 Preface.
is so rare that the people seem to be content if a
pubHc servant will do his duty only fairly well.
The vices which prevail in the city, and which
grew to their enormous, threatening, and hideous
proportions during the Mayor's first administra-
tion, were known to the people to exist, but were
forgotten by them at the polls, were known to the
police, and are still known to them, and upon no
conceivable basis of belief can it be supposed their
existence may not have been known to him,
and that he does not know of their continued
existence.
It is for him to utter the command "Stop," and
they will cease, in so far as they can be kept
within bounds by his authority. Their abso-
lute suppression, under existing legislation is, per-
haps, impossible, but their regulation thereunder
is not wholly impracticable. Ordinances demand-
ing, for instance, the imposition of a fine of $200
per day for keeping a house of ill fame, have, he
may say, never been enforced, and have fallen into
a condition of "innocuous desuetude."
The field of observation on matters such as
these is too wide to be entered upon here.
Preface. 7
During the Mayor's first term, one of his best
friends, in the columns of his widely circulated news-
paper, severely criticised his administration, but sup-
ported him for re-election, and explained in its col-
umns, in response to an inquiry made by a correspond-
ent just prior to the election, his reasons for doing
so as follows, viz. :
"If Mayor Harrison shall receive the support of
the independent voters because of the good points
of his administration, that will show that his
strength consists in doing right, not in doing
wrong. It stands to reason that he would rather
have the approval of honest and respectable men
than of the vicious elements of the community.
The R believes that Mayor Harrison's present
administration from first to last has improved
and not deteriorated. The mayor himself ought to
know what are the weak points in it, and if he has
acquired wisdom by experience he should choose
his heads of departments for his second term with
a view to curing the evils and failures of his first
term. The relations of the police department with
gambling resorts, all-night saloons and other forms
8 Preface.
of vice have been indecent, and probably corrupt.
The R has frequently urged the dismissal of
Superintendent K and the appointment of some
better man. It believes that Mayor Harrison is
much to blame in permitting the evil conditions
to continue."
The support he received for re-election came
from a very large and respectable element of the
community, but nobody can doubt that he owes
that re-election to the solidarity of the votes of "the
vicious elements of the community !"
The respectable element did note vote with such
allies m order that he should continue to conserve
the interests of vice and criminality. The sup-
porters of the all-night saloons, gambling hells,
poker joints, and of all other nests of iniquity ral-
lied to his assistance to a man. Without the
massed vote of the saloon and its hangers on, he
would not have been again chosen Mayor.
The leading financial paper of this city, non-
partisan in its political views, said on the eve of
the election : "An emergency exists. The govern-
ment of the City of Chicago is held in contempt
Preface. 9
not only in Chicago but wherever Chicago is known.
We are losing good citizens, property, capital, pres-
tige. The very streets, with their filth and dust,
repel the visitor; the servants of the city, whether
in administrative or legislative positions, are objects
of suspicion; the scheme of a well ordered civil
service is breaking down; vice receives encourage-
ment as the price of votes. What wonder that
many believe the heart is rotten? But there is
virtue and power enough to change all this. The
moral sentiment and enlightened self interest of the
city once aroused and properly guided would over-
whelm all opposition."
Few, if any, evidences have been given out
from the City Hall since the Mayor's re-inauguration
tending to show that he proposes voluntarily to
destroy this "contempt." His new comptroller is
a worthy successor to the departed Waller, while
the selection for his corporation counsel is all that
could be desired by the most captious citizen. But
the vices and crimes which principally brought,
through their unchecked prevalence, that con-
tempt, find the man, under whom for two years
lo Preface.
the police force, which in his friend's language has
been "indecent and probably corrupt," again in its
command. Doubtless the army of the vicious re-
joices. Certain it is the community wonders. He
will be observed as time passes. May the results
of observation redound to his everlasting credit
and success, and to the benefit of the great city of
which he is the executive head !
In the following pages references to the causes
of that contempt will be made. The prurient will
find nothing in them to their taste. These refer-
ences ought to be of some assistance to the Mayor
in finding out through a properly organized and
well officered police force that these evil causes do
exist. Having discovered them, their haunts, and
their aids, if he does not already know of them,
will he tolerate them any longer in this commu-
nity? Will his continuous Superintendent of Police
be further allowed to throw his kindly protection
over them?
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
Chicago — Its Development — Power of Criminal Classes in Its
Government — Pretenses of Reform — Official Satisfaction —
Public Condemnation — ^Truths as to Power of Criminal
Classes.
CHAPTER II.
The Police Force — Its Strength — Composition — Power Dom-
inating — Duties of Defined — Population of Chicago — Na-
tivity of — Police Enemies of Civil Service — Demoralizing
Effect — Tariff on Crime — Rates on Gambling Houses, Etc.
— Penalty for Refusal to Pay — Instances of Police Rates —
Method of Collection — Habits of Policemen — Some Are
"Hold Up" Men — Blackmail Levied — Law Department —
Arrests in 1897 — Police Fix Boundaries for Crime — Chief's
Testimony — Analysis of Arrests in 1897 in Second Police
Precinct — In City at Large — Division of Fees and Fines
With Magistrates — Police Courts, Corrupt — ^Cost of Police
Force.
CHAPTER III.
All Night Saloons— Character of— Thieves, Thugs and Pros-
titutes in — Visitors — Country Buyers, Transients, Dele-
gates, Youth and Old Age — Women in — Character of —
Basement Saloons — Scenes in — ^Private Rooms — Scenes in
All Night Saloons — Dancing — ^Music — ^Morning Hours —
Robberies, Etc., Planned — Girls Entrapped — Young Men
Ruined — Quarrels — Raids — Drinking — Surroundings of —
Houses of 111 Fame — Assignation Houses — Slumming Par-
ties — Fads — Salvation and Volunteer Army — ^Houses of
Contents.
Ill Fame — Inmates of — How Managed — Practices in —
Sux)erstitions — Luck Powders — Sources of Supply — Pa-
trons of — Wholesale House Entertainer — Police Protection
— Diseases — Attempts at Reform — People Indifferent.
CHAPTER IV.
Re-election of Mayor — False Issue Upon Which Re-elected —
Vices in Chicago — "Blind Pigs" — Protected by Police —
Where Situated — How Conducted — Classes — Drug Stores,
Bakeries, Barns — Revenue to Police — Located Near Uni-
Tersities — Lieutenant of Police Convicted for Protecting —
CJock Fighting — Bucket Shops — Women Dealers — Pool
Rooms — Police Play — Pulling of, Farcical — Views of Chief
of Police — Players in — Landlords — Book Making — Alli-
ance Between, and Police and Landlords — New York and
Chicago — ^Chicago's Police Force Worst — Hold Up Men —
Methods — Victims — Police Sleep — Mayor's Felicitations,
April 11, 1899 — Account of Hold Ups, Same Day — Classes
of Hold Up Men — Strong Armed Women — Street Car Con-
ductors Robbed — Ice Chests and Ovens for Prisons — 'Hair
Clippers — Protection to Criminals — "Safe Blowers' Union"
— Fakes — Panel Houses — Badger Games — Nude Photo-
graphs — Obscene Literature — ^Confidence Men — Diploma
Mills — Gambling — Women's Down Town Clubs — Sexual
Perverts — Opium Joints.
CHAPTER V.
Common Council — Boodlers — Bribers — Council of 1899 — Pow-
ers of — ^Misuse of — Price of Votes — Passage of Boodle
Ordinances — Public Works Department and Bureaus —
Illegal Contracts — Street Repairing, Etc. — Civil Service
Commission — History of — Present Board Tools of Mayor —
Examination by — Examples of — Attacks Upon Law — Spe-
cial Assessments — Asphalt Ring — Fire Department —
County Government — Insane Asylum — Sale of "Cadavers"
— ^Contracts — Sheriff's Office — Jury Bribers — Judges —
Revenue Law — Tax Dodgers — Town Boards — Coroner's
Office — Press Trust — Civic Societies — Berry Committee
Report — Baxter Committee — Opening Testimony — iConclu-
sion.
CHAPTER I.
Chicago — Its Development — Power of Criminal
Classes in Its Government — Pretenses of Re-
form — Official Satisfaction — Public Condem-
nation — Truths as to Power of Criminal
Classes.
Chicago, with its world-wide fame as the
most marvelous product of American enterprise
among municipal creations in the nineteenth cen-
tury, with its wonderful growth, from an Indian
trading post in 1837 ^^ ^ modern city of the sec-
ond size in point of population in the year 1898,
with the record of its stupendous strides in reach-
ing its present commercial and financial position
among the commanding trade centers in the world,
with its strong civic pride, its numerous and ad-
mirable religious, educational and charitable insti-
tutions both public and private, its cultured devel-
opment in literature, music, the arts and sciences,
with its memorable disaster in the great fire of
1 87 1, its speedy recoupment from that disaster,
14 Chicago, Satan's Sanctum.
and its brilliant achievement in the organization and
management of the magnificent "White City," the wide
range of the classified exhibits of which covered the
entire and progressive contributions of mankind to
all that goes to make up the civilization of the
age from the earliest period of the commencement
of that civilization, this Chicago, grand, phil-
anthropic and patriotic, suffers, as for years it has
suffered, from the most extensive and persistent
"advances in political power, along the lines of
their respective crimes, of the criminal classes, un-
til, from the wealthy bribe-giver to the lowest sneak
thief and sexual pervert, these classes carry elec-
tions, corrupt the corruptible in the Common Coun-
cil, sway justice in the forum of the lower courts,
and govern tlie police force until it has become a
municipal aid to the perpetration of crime.
From one administration to the other, the grow-
ing power of these lowest classes of society mani-
fests a stronger hold upon civic administration.
Pretenses of reform are all that, so far, have fol-
lowed each bi-ennial election of a Mayor. Here and
there, and now and then, gambling houses are
Chicago, Satan's Sanctum. 15
closed, threats against police officers, who follow
the well grounded practice of levying protection
rates upon brothels, street walkers, gambling games
of all descriptions, saloons, concert halls, and that
varied combination of evils forming the working
machinery of vice, are given publicity, and while
the growth of these monstrous evils cannot but
be known to public officials, both from observation,
official reports, events as chronicled in the daily press,
grand jury reports, civic and State investigations, and
verdicts in the courts, a nerveless cowardice seems
to seize each succeeding incumbent of the Executive's
office, under whatever political party's banner he
may be called to the chair, and prevents him from
grappling with, and throttling, the ever increasing
power of the combined votaries of all forms of
vice and crime.
The Mayor recently congratulated the Common
Council in these words, viz : "The report of the
General Superintendent of Police contains assur-
ance for all classes of citizens that the efficiency,
vigilance and zeal that have characterized this de-
partment will permit them to pursue their avoca-
i6 Chicago, Satan's Sanctum.
tions without fear of being robbed and assaulted by
long and short men. One need not be exceed-
ingly observant to note that with the approach
of winter comes an annual outbreak of crime. We
all noticed evidences of such a visitation at the
advent of the winter just ended, but it should not
be allowed to pass without comment that criminal-
ity rarely showed itself during last fall when it
was crushed out with a suddenness and success
that ought to be regarded with pride and satisfac-
tion by every Chicagoan. There has been no ev-
idence of crime through the recent year as in
former years; the criminals came in the fall, but
they were severely taught that Chicago was an
unhealthy clime for them, with the result that they
were wise enough not to linger here long."
This statement, so self-satisfying to the official
who made it, so totally false in fact, so dangerous
to the welfare of the people, and so flippantly in-
terwoven into a public document by one who either
knew the contrary to be the truth, or who know-
ingly used his official position for the sup-
pression of truth, if not of crime, is con-
Chicago, Satan's Sanctum. 17
tradicted by the disclosures made by every or-
ganization devoted to the purification of the pub-
lic morals, the betterment of civil administration,
and the eradication of the bestial vices so freely
and openly flaunted in the faces of a busy and
apparently indifferent people.
Contrast the announcement of the Law En-
forcement League with this official declaration.
Said this League, composed of the pastors of
churches and law-abiding people, "Chicago's influ-
ence ought to be on the side of purity and good
order, but the fact is that vice and crime are
prevalent, lawlessness is defiant, recreancy to sworn
duty is all but universal. The disorderly saloon
is the nesting place of the terrible debaucheries
which disgrace our city. Ordinances and laws
which have for their object the suppression of
venality and crime are trampled ruthlessly beneath
the feet of a disloyal and un-American horde. * * *
The public mind is profoundly agitated over the
reign of lawlessness and moral disorder. * * *
The co-operation of all decent and respectable peo-
ple is absolutely imperative if municipal govern-
i8 Chicago, Satan's Sanctum.
ment is to be transferred from the baser to the bet-
ter element. * * * We have a right to demand
that lawlessness shall cease; that gang rule shall
be broken; that partisan politics shall be made
subsidiary to municipal righteousness ; that the
all but omnipotent power of the disorderly shall be
broken; that the carnival of crime which curses
Chicago shall end ; that the law breakers, crime
makers and bribe-takers shall be adequately punished
and that the fair name of this imperial city shall be
redeemed from the reproach of blackmail, wanton
immorality and widespread disorder."
A noted divine said recently, "I believe that
this city is to be the greatest city of this continent
and of the world. I believe that Chicago is the
devil's headquarters, and I think it is not far from
the City Hall. If our own eyes could be fully
opened we would see there infinite indecencies,
bum politicians, ward workers, heel tappers, men
who are the devil's own and delivered body and
soul to do his bidding."
Another said, "Saloons and all other haunts of
vice are wide open, as they have never been before
in the city's history."
Chicago, Satan's Sanctum. 19
A distinguished lawyer, speaking before the
Christian Convention recently held in this city,
said, "Scourge off and out of your temples the
political hyenas that prey on the municipal body
politic, that fatten on the scarlet woman's wages
of sin, that share the gambler's plunder and the
blind pig's profits."
Another eminent divine declared at this meet-
ing, "He knew that men have been kept from com-
ing to, and investing in, Chicago because our mor-
ality is so low."
Still another divine declared at the same meet-
ing, "But when in one night five homes in the
block in which I live — and I moved there because
it was the safest place in the city — are robbed, and,
within the same week, three men are held up with-
in two blocks, the conditions are serious." Serious,
indeed, they are, despite assurances of protection
by the police force emanating from the highest
official authority!
A few plain truths as to the utter prostitution
of the civil authorities to the power of the crim-
inal classes in Chicago, and as to the filthiness of
20 Chicago, Satan's Sanctum.
those classes, are attempted to be given in the fol-
lowing pages. They may assist in arousing the
people to a keen sense of their duty as citizens
to demand from a new administration a rigid en-
forcement of the law by public officers, and that
these officers shall become the servants of the peo-
ple rather than remain the slaves, as well as the
persecutors for private gain, of the riffraff of the
community.
CHAPTER II.
The Police Force — Its Strength — Composition —
Power Dominating — Duties of Defined — Pop-
ulation OF Chicago — Nativity of — Police Ene-
mies OF Civil Service — Demoralizing Effect —
Tariff on Crime — Rates on Gambling Houses,
Etc. — Penalty for Refusal to Pay — Instances
OF Police Rates — Method of Collection — Hab-
its of Policemen — Some Are "Hold Up" Men —
Blackmail Levied — Law Department — Ar-
rests in 1897 — Police Fix Boundaries for
Crime — Chief's Testimony — Analysis of Ar-
rests IN 1897 IN Second Police Precinct — In
City at Large — Division of Fees and Fines
With Magistrates — Police Courts, Corrupt —
— Cost of Police Force.
The Police Force of the City of Chicago con-
sisted on December 31st, 1897, of 3,594 men, of
which number 2,298 were first-class patrolmen, the
remainder being officers, sergeants, clerks, drivers
and patrol-wagon men. The number of square miles
of territory embraced within the city limits was,
and is, 186.4.
22 Chicago, Satan's Sanctum.
The force is composed largely of men of one
nationality or of their descendants. A large ma-
jority affiliates with the same church. Prior to
the passage of the civil service law in 1895,
each bi-ennial administration made the force its
own valuable mine in which veins of rich rewards
for its friends and political workers were found.
To this force the aldermanic supporters of the ad-
ministration attached their henchmen and ward
heelers, and these, in turn, as public officers, looked
after the political welfare of their backers and of
the administration these backers supported. Thus,
the political complexion of the force was liable
to change every two years. Notwithstanding the
presence of a civil service law on the statute books
under which the force is now supposed to have
been re-organized and re-appointed, its political com-
plexion remains the same. The organization is
dominated by the political party which alone uses
the distinctive title of "Tammany." The civil serv-
ice law has been attacked, in behalf of this public
force, by officials who were sworn to sustain it,
until through their repeated assaults upon it, its ad-
Chicago, Satan's Sanctum. 23
ministration is looked upon as farcical, and its ad-
ministrators as its most cunning and relentless foes.
The duties of the police force are clearly de-
fined in the city charter. Generally, that instrument
provides, "The police shall devote their time and
attention to the discharge of the duties of their
stations according to the laws and ordinances of
the city and the rules and regulations of the de-
partment of police, and it shall be their duty, to
the best of their ability, to preserve order, peace
and quiet, and enforce the laws and ordinances
throughout the city."
According to the school census of 1898, the
population of Chicago was then 1,851,588. This
population is one of the most polyglot of any city
in the world. Each modern language is spoken
by some one class of its people.
The population born of American born parents
exceeds that of any other nativity, being in round
numbers 486,000, while the Germans, born of German
born parents, and Germans born in Germany, num-
ber in round figures 468,000. Of the Irish 131,000
are American born of Irish parents; born in Ire-
24 Chicago, Satan's Sanctum.
land, 104,000, making a total of 235,000. These
are the largest classes, by nativity, of its people, and
with the proverbial ability of the latter nationality to
govern and "get there" it supplies the police force
with the largest quota of men, year after year.
During the years 1897 and 1898 this force, and
every man seeking to become a member of it, was
taught by city officials, and by none more energet-
ically than by the chief law officer of the city ad-
ministration, that the civil service law was an es-
pecial enemy of theirs, inasmuch as it abridged
their privileges and immunities as citizens of the
United States, and was, therefore, a menace to their
rights, wholly unwarranted by the Constitution of
the United States.
It was accordingly attacked upon that ground
by the officers sworn to enforce it, and, since
the establishment of its validity by the highest
courts in the land, its provisions are constantly
sought, by them, to be avoided and defeated.
The efforts of the commissioners to enforce it
were commented on in an official message by the
city's Executive, as if such efforts were in fact being
Chicago, Satan's Sanctum. 25
made, and were part and parcel of an adminis-
trative policy ; while, in practice, no possible legal
device or illegal invention was allowed to fail of
application by municipal officials to destroy its
commands, even by its commissioners, who an-
nounced themselves as its greatest devotees. No
more demoralizing example could have been set
before the police force than the acts of the
higher authorities. Such acts have produced the
inevitable result, that, as such higher authorities
saw fit to openly throttle a law they were sworn to en-
force, the rank and file of the police force itself in-
ferred that they, too, could seek to evade, and refuse
to execute, all laws and ordinances which in their
judgment afifected the suppression of crime.
Consequently, that force has become demoral-
ized and corrupt, openly levying a tarifif for reve-
nue and official protection upon all classes of
wrong-doers, below those who commit felonious
crimes of the highest grade, and when the rates
are not promptly paid by the protected classes,
they are coerced by arrest into the payment of
fines and fees for division between the justices and
26 Chicago. Satan's Sanctum.
the officers. It is a well known fact that a sched-
ule of prices prevails for police protection, which
prices must be paid for that protection. Gam-
bling houses pay from $50.00 per month upwards;
panel and badger games, $35.00 to $50.00; music
halls with saloon and private room attachments,
$100.00; houses of ill fame, from $50.00 upwards,
according to the number of inmates at so much
per capita; cigar store and barber shop gambling
games, $10.00; "blind pigs," the unlicensed vendors
of liquors, $10.00 to $30.00, and with permission
to gamble, $30.00 to $50.00; crap games, $10.00
to $25.00; opium and Chinese joints, $10.00 to
$25.00; drug store "blind pigs,'' $10.00 to $30.00,
and prize fights and cocking mains, a percentage
of the gate receipts — usually one-fifth.
Whenever a gambling house refuses to pay
it is immediately pulled. These rates of police
blackmail and of protective tariff have been sworn
to before public investigations, and inquiry trials,
as imposed and collected. The press has repeat-
edly commented upon these frightfully cruel per-
secutions, reeking with the infamy of the partici-
Chicago, Satan's Sanctum. 27
pation by public servants in a division of the
fetid proceeds of the procuress, of the landlady,
of her unfortunate slave, the harlot; of the skin
gambler, the clock swindlers and tape gamesters,
and of the operators of massage parlors, both male
and female.
In one case, tried before the Criminal Court of
Cook County, a lieutenant of the police force was
convicted of the crime of exacting money from'
the owner of a "blind pig" paid to him by the
owner for protection in his unlawful occupation.
Going back a few years, during the World's Fair
period, as high as $2,000, it is said in public
print, was paid for similar protection in a single
instance.
The officer in charge of a given precinct makes
the collections, retains his percentage, passes the
remainder on to his next superior, who withholds
his rake-off, and so on until the net profit reaches
the highest police official. A leading city news-
paper, in a caustic editorial, declared that "in Chi-
cago protection means the privilege to commit
crime upon the payment of a sum of money to
28 Chicago, Satan's Sanctum.
the police. It has ceased to mean that the citi-
zen will be guarded against the acts of crim-
inals." So thoroughly recreant to duty have some
of the ranking officers of this force become, that
one of the oldest captains when asked why he
did not close, in his district, certain notorious sa-
loons where depraved women robbed strangers in
wine rooms, replied that "some people would steal
in the churches, and you might as well close
churches as close the saloons for that reason."
Patrolmen in uniform are found in dives play-
ing cards ; and in others sleeping during the hours
of their supposed presence on their beats. They
know the women of the town, the street walkers
in the territory they patrol, the keepers of every
vile joint, where the most depraved practices are
indulged in, the houses of ill fame, high-priced
and low-priced, the "Nigger," Japanese, Chinese
and mixed bagnios, the policy shops, fences and
schools for thieves.
All these vice mills and their operators con-
tribute to the policemen's demand, and thus ob-
tain permission to carry on, in daylight, and at
Chicago, Satan's Sanctum. 29
night-time, their nefarious, lecherous and disgust-
ing crimes and orgies.
One officer gambled in a saloon with a citi-
zen, lost his money, overpowered the citizen, re-
covered his lost money and then robbed his victim.
In broad daylight an officer held up a citizen
and robbed him of his money and valuables. When
the Chief of Police had this case called to his at-
tention before a legislative investigating commit-
tee, he answered, "I tried that man yesterday.
He got on the police department ten years ago,
and he always had a reputation of being a good
officer, and the other morning he had been drink-
ing some, and, like everything else, became a
little indiscreet and started out to hold up a
man and got hold of a few dollars in that way,
and under the impression, very likely, that he
would never be discovered, and, like everybody
else, with his good record in the past, he was
discharged and reinstated, because many people
vouched for him, and all said he was an ex-
cellent officer, but he stepped by the wayside
and fell, and we had him arrested and discharged."
3b Chicago, Satan's Sanctum.
Whether the many people who so generously
interceded with the Chief of Police for the reten-
tion of a thief as a member of his force were that
thief's fellow pals and hold-up men, was not dis-
closed ; but it may be said without hazard, that
they were not reputable men — if they had any ex-
istence at all other than in the imagination, and
as part of the bewildering policy of an incapable
Chief.
Methods of levying blackmail upon other than
the disreputable classes, but reaching through
them, upwards and beyond them, are not only
countenanced, but advised by superior officials
and approved by the city's highest executive.
On the 5th of November, 1897, a practical
stranger in the city was given the following
letter, signed by the Chief of Police, viz. :
*To Whom It May Concern:
The police department is about to issue a
history for the benefit of their relief fund. Kindly
make all checks payable to W. V. M., East Chi-
cago Avenue Station, and any favors shown the
bearer will be appreciated by,
Yours truly,"
Chicago, Satan's Sanctum. 31
This stranger had been denounced through the
press as a fraud and a schemer, who had been
arrested in other cities for obtaining money under
false pretenses, which facts were known to the
Chief of Pohce when his letter of recommenda-
tion was written. The stranger was to receive a
commission of twenty-five per cent on all subscrip-
tions obtained by him, and the treasurer of the
fund, who was selected with the approval of the
Chief, the Mayor, and his principal political satel-
lite, ten per cent. Some $8,000 were collected
under this scheme, one large railroad corporation
subscribing $1,000 and a noted Board of Trade op-
erator $500. Whence the remainder came rests
in conjecture, with a well defined belief that noted
gamblers, and keepers of houses of ill fame, were
contributors to it.
A legislative committee's inquiries prevented
the consummation of the scheme, but, owing to
the speedy departure from the city of the treas-
urer, the source of the remaining subscriptions
could not be inquired into.
As a cover to the purposes of this scheme, it
2,2 Chicago, Satan's Sanctum.
was proposed to place these collections to the credit
of the Policemen's Benevolent Association Fund of
Chicago, which, by reason of the failure of a bank,
whose officials are now under indictment for the
misappropriation of public funds other than those
of this association, had become badly impaired.
This proposal followed the appointment of the
legislative committee of investigation, by way of
preparation to conceal the real purpose of the
swindle. That association repudiated the plan.
The Chief of Police was asked by the commit-
tee of investigation whether he thought it was
the proper thing for him, as Chief of Police of
Chicago, "to give to a man to go out among busi-
ness men, corporations and manufacturing establish-
ments of the city a letter telling them that every-
thing this man did and said you would be respons-
ible for, if you knew he had been indicted and
arrested in different cities of the United States
for defrauding the people out of money on this
same identical scheme?" He answered, "I don't
believe it." Immediately he was asked, "Have
you heard A. was arrested a number of times?"
Chicago, Satan's Sanctum. 33
and in reply said, "I read in the newspapers that
he was arrested and had trouble in Detroit."
Again he was asked whether A. had given him
any information as to the number of times he had
been arrested for getting money on false pretenses,
and his answer was, "I can give you some infor-
mation on that subject."
These extracts from the sworn testimony of
this official, speak in no commendatory manner of
his sense of official responsibility. They point to a
mind deadened to all sense of the duties of his posi-
tion; they elevate him before his force as a con-
spicuous example for them to follow, in his
disregard of the principles of official decency.
In themselves they urge upon that force, by their
silent influence, an emulation of such a black-
mailing course, even though in its accomplish-
ment the assistance of a swindler is required,
and deliberately accepted.
A brother of the Chief, a member of the de-
tective force, was frequently found in poolrooms,
assisting in their management, and yet the Chief
seems to have been unable to acquire the knowl-
34 Chicago, Satan's Sanctum.
edge that poolrooms were running wide open
throughout the city. He probably knew it as
an individual. In response to a question as to
his information on this subject he answered, that
no particular complaints were made — "the news-
paper boys often came around and said there
was pool selling going on at different places,"
and he presumed "if ' a desperate effort had been
made to look that kind of thing up, we might have
possibly been successful." More open admissions
of official incompetency it would, perhaps, be
difficult to make, and no more flagrant instances
could be cited of official degeneracy than are
these extracts from the sworn testimony of a
definant and dangerous public servant.
In the attack on the Police Pension Fund,
which was established under an act of the leg-
islature for the benefit of an officer who shall
have reached the age of fifty years, and who
shall have served at reaching that age for twenty
years on the force, then be retired with a
yearly pension equal to one-half of the salary
attached to the rank which he may have held
Chicago, Satan's Sanctum. 35
for one year next preceding the expiration of
his term of twenty years, or who shall have be-
come physically disabled in the performance of
his duty, there was manifested a degree of moral
irresponsibility, if not of criminality, and a blind
adherence to partisanship in defiance of the laws,
seldom found in the history of any municipal
corporation, and unmatched even by the develop-
ments of the Lexow committee of New York
City, in matters of a kindred character, inquired
into by that committee.
For the sake of creating vacancies in the
ranks of the police force, to be filled by appoint-
ments to be made by the Chief in defiance of
the civil service law, and while that law was
running the gauntlet of every conceivable attack,
both open and covert, which could be made
upon it by every department of the city's ad-
ministration, and by none more virulently than
by the Law Department, a plan was devised
and put into execution whereby officers of all
ranks, after years of police service and experience
and in strong physical condition willing and anx-
$6 Chicago, Satan's Sanctum. .
ious to remain in their positions, were retired
from the force against their protest, merely to
make way for the substitution of new appointees
— the poHtical friends of the Chief and his su-
perior. Men with good records and physically
able to perform their duties were thus forced
upon the rolls as pensioners, to deplete a fund,
sacred as a trust, not only for the benefit of the
living and necessitous pensioners, but also for the
widows of the men who had lost their lives in the
service and the wives and children of those who
had died after ten years of police duty. One ef-
fect, as to the standing of this fund, was to reduce
the balance on hand January i, 1897, from $16,837
to $4,543 December 31st, 1897. Thus over $10,-
000 was raided, seized and forced upon unwilling
pensioners, "still able bodied and anxious to retain
their positions at their full salaries." A more con-
temptible exercise of political power and admin-
istrative robbery could not well be imagined.
The omissions of the police force in the en-
forcement of the laws, their acts of commission
in evading, attacking and disregarding others, es-
Chicago, Satan's Sanctum. 37
pecially those relating to all night saloons, the
source of most of the arrests for disorderly con-
duct, where wantonness is displayed, assignations
are arranged, drunkenness aided and brawls en-
gendered, are blamable, not so much upon the
patrolmen, as upon their superior officers. The
patrolmen do as they are told. They report in-
fractions of the law, or not, according to their
instructions. Their eyes are opened or closed,
as the "wink is tipped" to them from above.
The men are brave in moments of danger, fear-
less in rescuing the inmates of burning buildings,
risking their lives in stopping runaway horses,
tender in caring for lost children, or destitute
persons, both men and w^omen, and faithful in
the performance of their duties as members of
the ambulance corps.
During the year 1897 one hundred and eighty
were injured while on duty, and of this num-
ber forty-seven were on service in the first pre-
cinct, embracing the business district, the thor-
oughfares of which are the most crowded and
in which the heaviest fires happen, while only
38 Chicago, Satan's Sanctum.
seven were injured in the second precinct along
tiie "levee" — the tough precinct. Given proper
management, strict disc^line and law abiding ex-
ample, it could be made, and ought to be made,
one of the "finest" forces in the world. Thugs
and thieves, within the past two years, through
the manipulation of the civil service law, have
been admitted to its ranks, to its everlasting
disgrace and that of the usurped appointing power.
The number of arrests in 1897 for those of-
fences from the perpetrators of which the po-
lice are charged with receiving protection money,
was less than in any of the previous years
since 1895, notwithstanding the increase in pop-
ulation, according to the school census, from
1,616,635 in 1896, to 1,851,588 in 1898, an in-
crease in round numbers of 234,000.
The following is the number of arrests for
the years 1894, 1895, 1896 and 1897 for offences
as named, viz.:
Chicago, Satan's Sanctum. 39
1894. 1895. 1896. 1897.
Cock fighting 156 69
Decoy to gambling
houses
Disorderly 49,072 44,450 50,641 45,844
Inmates of assigna-
tion houses 53 53 92 14
Inmates of disorderly
houses 21 105 205 181
Inmates of gambling
houses 879 1,802 2,535 725
Inmates of houses of
ill fame 2,516 2,894 5,547 1,531
Inmates of opium dens 943 1,112 528 253
Keeping assignation
houses 17 5 15 19
Keeping disorderly
houses 39 28 30 139
Keeping gaming
houses 238 300 310 155
Keeping houses of ill
fame 174 210 241 648
Robbery 1,072 1,099 i'083 1,200
Violation saloon ordi-
nance 717 1,283 1.359 559
40 Chicago, Satan's Sanctum.
In 1897, as compared with 1896, there was a de-
crease of 78 in the number of arrests of inmates
of assignation houses, 24 of the inmates of disor-
derly houses, 1,810 of the inmates of gambhng
houses, 4,016 of the inmates of houses of ill fame,
275 of the inmates of opium dens, 155 of the keep-
ers of gaming houses, and 800 for violation of
saloon ordinances. That these offenses had not
decreased in point of perpetration is a fact, pat-
ent to observation and well known to the people.
On the other hand, the arrests for keeping disorderly
houses increased 109, and for keeping houses of ill
fame 407. In the year 1896, when some effort
was made to keep the police out of politics, the
total arrests were 13,167 more than in 1897, when
the police force had passed into the hands of a
political machine, which sought to' erase the appli-
cation of the civil law to its government. In 1896
the inmates suffered arrest, but in 1897 the policy
of arresting fewer inmates and more keepers, except
of gaming houses, seems to have been inaugurated.
"The keepers" are more able to pay than the in-
mates. For every dollar collected from inmates, the
Chicago, Satan's Sanctum. 41
keepers are able to pay ten, or fifty dollars if nec-
essary. From these figures it is clear that the
practice of assessments for police protection was
maintained principally against keepers in 1897, and
that few inmates, comparatively, refused to pay in
that year, while a large number of keepers of im-
moral and gambling houses were tardy in their pay-
ments, consequently, the former were not arrested,
while the latter were.
What the figures for the year 1898 will reveal is
as yet unknown.
Not only is crime thus tolerated by the police,
but its chief officials assume, also, to define the
boundaries of the districts in which it may be freely
and safely perpetrated.
The Chief of Police, testifymg before a legis-
lative investigating committee, said : "Now, any
fellow who wants to bet on the races or anything
of that sort cannot be allowed to do so this side
of Jackson street, because we don't want this sec-
tion of the town polluted with this class of things.
We want the boys who have an inclination to bet
on horse races to go south."
42 Chicago, Satan's Sanctum.
Q. What have you got against the people south
of Jackson street?
A. . I Hke them.
Q. Is that the reason you wanted that stuff to
go down there?
A. Things are very Hvely in the lower part of
the town, everything has a thrifty appearance, and
everything
Q. You mean south of Jackson street?
A. North of Jackson — and things up south of
Jackson are virtually dead — there is nothing going
on at all, and the stores are all empty. There is
nothing doing, and the property, is depreciating in
value, and the object was to liven things up a little
bit."
That part of the city south of Jackson boule-
vard to Sixteenth street, and from State street on
the east to the river on the west, embraces the tough
part of the second precinct of the second police dis-
trict. In the year 1897 of the total number of ar-
rests of women and girls in the city, 17,624 in num-
ber, 8,957, or over 50 per cent, were, as the police
term it, "run in" from this police district. How
Chicago, Satan's Sanctum. 43
often the same women were arrested and re-arrested
it is impossible to say, or whether they were
"pinched" oftener than once in the same night. Of
this latter number 7,364 were discharged by the mag-
istrates, but the larger number contributed one dol-
lar each to the justice for signing a bail bond for
their appearance for trial. In addition, 300 women,
known as "women lodgers," were also "run in" in
this district in 1897. Of these unfortunates 1,746
were fined ; 140 held to the criminal court ; 193 re-
leased on peace bonds ; 209 sent to the house of
correction; 10 held as witnesses; 10 were insane;
7 destitute, and 23 were sick and sent to the hos-
pital. Of this total number of arrests of women
and women lodgers, 9,257 in number, in this police
district in 1897, only 2,288, or about 39 per cent
were convicted of ofifenses by police magistrates,
while 61 per cent of them were discharged.
Of the total number of persons arrested through-
out the city in 1897, 83,680 in number, 55,020 were
discharged by the police courts, 18,017 were fined,
4,138 held on criminal charges, and 2,947 bound
over to keep the peace. The remainder were sent
44 Chicago, Satan's Sanctum.
to various homes, refuges, asylums and humane
societies. Over 50 per cent of those arrested were
discharged. The percentage of those who fur-
nished bail for their appearance, it is difficult to
ascertain. That the practice exists is too well
known to be proven, that a division of these bail
bond fees is made between the magistrate and
the police ; the police furnishing the victims, the straw
bailor his signature to, and the justice his ap-
proval of, the bond. The latter collects his fee
and divides with the officers, while the straw
bailor exacts his compensation in proportion tj
the ability of the victim to pay, then hands over
a share to the arresting officers.
That such persecution should exist in a civ-
ilized community is a disgrace to its civilization,
that public officers should, for one moment, be
permitted to engage in such hideous traffic in the
liberties of their fellows, is a scandal upon the
administration of justice, and that executive offi-
cers of the law, sworn to its enforcement, should
be ignorant of the infamy of such arrests, or
knowingly permit them to be made, is malfeasance
in office, and subversion of civil rights.
Chicago, Satan's Sanctum. 45
The portion of the fines (not by statute
appropriated for other purposes) assessed upon,
and collected from, this class of unfortunates by
the justices, is required by- the ordinances to be
paid to the city at the close of each and every
month, and is to be apportioned by the city authori-
ties as the statutes and ordinances require. The sal-
aries of the police magistrates are fixed by agree-
ment with the city. These magistrates are chosen
bi-ennially after the election of a Mayor, by that
officer, from the appointed justices of the peace,
and are generally of the same political faith as is
the appointing authority. The system is a blot
upon the impartial administration of justice. It has
become a byword among the people as a malodorous
cesspool.
From the evidence heard before a legislative
committee, that committee reported "that the pres-
ent system of justice, or police courts, as run, is
a disgrace to the present civilization. It shows
that justice courts will open in the night time,
policemen will go out and drag in men and
women, 100 and 200, and even more at a time; that
46 Chicago, Satan's Sanctum.
they are refused a trial at night, required to give a
bond for which the justice charges them one dollar;
that professional bondsmen are in attendance who
will collect another dollar, and oftentimes much
more, from the poor unfortunate to go on his or
her bond until morning, thus making several hun-
dred dollars ofttimes in a night to the police justices
and other officers connected with the court, and this
is done, as your committee believe, from the evi-
dence, for the purpose of making money for the
police justice, the professional bondsman, and the
police officer in charge of the arrest."
These magistrates are required to report at the
"close of each day's business," but their night ar-
rests are construed by them as not following within
the definition of "a. day's business." The fees arising
from them are not, therefore, reported.
Civic bodies have denounced in the bitterest
terms the evils of this system, and in a recent may-
oralty message to the Common Council, in itself
the hotbed of boodleism, it is said, "The justice shop
system with all its necessarily attendant scandals is
about to be wiped out."
Chicago, Satan's Sanctum. 47
That desirable result awaits legislative action. The
general assembly, if it has any respect for human
rights, for commendable municipal government, for
the performance of its sworn duty, will lay aside
the struggle in legislative halls for political ascend-
ancy, and hasten the day when this festering sore
shall have applied to it an instrument of eradica-
tion which it alone can waeld. It is proper to add
that since the foregoing lines were written the night
fees are better accounted for, vmder an agreement
between the magistrates and the city by which the
magistrates' salaries are raised, as an inducement to
them to be honest.
The appropriations for the year 1897, for the
maintenance of the police force, amounted to $3,356,-
910. Other sources of income amounted to $17,-
635-03-
The salary warrants drawn against this fund
amounted to $3,290,296.26; for other expenses,
$167,369.63, making a total of warrants drawn of
$3,457,665.89, leaving a deficit of $83,392.84.
The total income of the city for the year 1897
from saloon licenses was about $3,000,000. The
48 Chicago, Satan's Sanctum.
saloons are, therefore,- the poHcemen's great finan-
cial friends in more ways than one, and largely
defray the expenses of the department.
CHAPTER III.
All Night Saloons — Character of — Thieves,
Thugs and Prostitutes in — Visitors — Country
Buyers, Tr^\nsients, Delegates, Youth and
Old Age — Women in — Character of — Base-
ment Saloons — Scenes in — Private Rooms —
Scenes in All Night Saloons — Dancing —
Music — Morning Hours — Robberies, Etc.,
Planned — Girls Entrapped — Young Men
Ruined — Quarrels — Raids — Drinking — Sur-
roundings OF — Houses of III Fame — Assigna-
tion Houses — Slumming Parties — Fads — Sal-
vation AND Volunteer Army — Inmates of —
How Managed — Practices in — Superstitions —
Luck Powders — Sources of Supply — Patrons
OF — Wholesale House Entertainers — Police
Protection — Diseases — Attempts at Reform
— People Indifferent.
The breeding ground of disorder and crime is
to be found in the all night saloons.
Despite the stringent ordinances prohibiting the
"open door" after midnight, in the most dissolute
districts throughout the city, along the streets and
avenues of the north, west and south divisions,
50 Chicago, Satan's Sanctum.
under ground and on its surface, these dens invite
the depraved of both sexes to enter, remain, dissi-
pate and carouse through the night. Murders, rob-
beries and assaults are the necessary outcome of
the unHmited drinking, the ribald language, the
senseless jealousies, and the heated passions of the
motley crowds which are at all times the fascinated
patrons of these joints. A more rigid rule has re-
cently been applied to the larger of the down town,
or business district, basement saloons. Music is
prohibited, and the closing midnight hour respected.
These are but the depots for the all night saloons.
When they close, the gathered crowds of dissolute
women dissolve and betake themselves to the after
midnight haunts, there to continue their calling — the
solicitation of male visitors for drinks, meals and
the ultimate purpose of their solicitation — prostitu-
tion. The male frequenters of these resorts be-
long to all classes of society. The "steady" visitors
are thieves, thugs, pickpockets, gamblers, variety
actors, "rounders," that large and constantly grow-
ing class in great cities which is ceaselessly observ-
ing the shady side of life, "seeing the elephant,"
Chicago, Satan's Sanctum. 51
and not infrequently becoming intimately acquainted
with the beast, and pimps, who fatten upon the sin-
ful earnings of abandoned women, whose fondness
for their masters increases in proportion to the vio-
lence the masters visit upon their slaves. The tran-
sient custom is comprised of not only the old round-
er, but also of those of younger experience, burst-
ing, or not far advanced, into manhood; those who
with a wide knowledge of the ways and wickedness
of the world, more than their years warrant, are out
for a "good time ;" the observer of those ways ; the
"chiels" who are among them taking notes ; clerks,
cabmen and their "hauls ;" the country buyer under
the guidance of the entertainer of the wholesale
house with whom the buyer is dealing; the dele-
gates to conventions, out to view the town ; the
passer through the burg who has heard of the
lights and shadows of Chicago ; the swallow-tailed
youth, and the middle-aged gentleman fresh from
escorting to her home the virtuous female compan-
ion of the evening's entertainment, the melo-
drama, the opera, or the social function. The
women range from the one who has just "started
52 Chicago, Satan^s Sanctum.
out" to the most despicable and depraved member
of the sex. The former is the observed of all
observers, the object of conspicuous attention, and
a veritable prize to be won by the most dashing
attack and the most liberal offer. She is under
the tuition of her female guide, who instructs her
"what she has to do that she may not be raw in
her entertainment."
The basement saloons in the down town district
with their brilliant electric lighting equipment,
their reflecting mirrors and hardwood finishings,
combine, in most instances, the facilities of the rum
shop and the restaurant.
Here, from noon hour of the day until midnight,
come and go the "sporty" women, who have not
yet reached the lower degree of a brothel, the
"roomers," "the cruisers" of the street, the so-called
keepers of manicure parlors, baths and dressmaking
establishments, all bent upon a "mash" in its broad-
est sense, or a "pick up" of any male greenhorn,
or sport, who can be ensnared by their wiles.
Maintaining a semblance of decorum, they pass the
earlier hours of the evening in drinking with the
Chicago, Satan's Sanctum. 53
"guests" and in flitting about from table to tabic,
with which each place is abundantly supplied.
The conversation is loud, and at times boisterous.
Its subject matter is beyond repetition in polite
circles. Lecherous glances, libidinous gestures, open
invitations, characterize the behavior of the audi-
ence. Sometimes personal liberties are attempted,
but invariably suppressed by the management. From
the private rooms come sounds of hilarity, and the
intermixture of words of protest, inducement and
vulgarity. The withdrawals of couples are marked,
and their early return and ruffled appearance sug-
gest patronage of not distant "hotels," where no
questions are asked. Generally, as the midnight
hour approaches, the crowd decreases, signs of in-
toxication increase, and the exodus to the all night
resorts is about completed as that hour is struck.
When the downtown basement resorts close, the
profitable work of the all night joints commences.
The attendants in them are joined by squads from
the more pretentious and less favored half-night
competitors. These resorts, as a rule, are all
equipped with private rooms, and many of them,
54 Chicago, Satan's Sanctum.
in summer, have a so-called garden attached. Some
have vaudeville performances to attract crowds,
which end after the midnight hour. Many have a
"Ladies' Entrance," but most visitors pass through
the bar to the sitting room beyond. The so-called
music of the cracked piano and strident male voices
now commences, and the hat is passed around by
the artists and performers, for contributions for
payment for their services, the "house" paying noth-
ing for such services, but permitting the artists
to "work" the crowd. Boys of sixteen, and under,
join in the gaieties as buck, wing and jig dancers,
and also pass the hat. As the hours lengthen, as
the liquor begins its effect, freedom of action en-
larges, and restraint is removed. Those attitudes
at table indicative of respectability are abandoned
for others hinting at the widest license, or actually,
which is not infrequently the case, illustrating that
license, so far as familiarities of the person are con-
cerned. The dance begins, with all its contortions
of the body derived from the couche-couchee exhi-
bitions of the World's Fair times, enlarged upon by
the grossness of the two-step waltz of the slums.
Chicago, Satan's Sanctum. 55
Strolling bands of negro musicians, scraping the
violin and strumming the guitar and mandolin, or
the home orchestra, composed of these dusky min-
strels, add their alleged harmonies to the occasion,
and, with nasal expression, roll of coon songs in
the popular rag time, with their intimations of free
love, warmth of passion and disregard of moral
teachings. At. times, with assumed pathos and
mock dignity they warble a sentimental song with
some allusion to "Mother," "Home," or "Just Tell
Them That You Saw Me." The spree goes on,
with fresh additions from the bagnios. Women
with the most repulsive signs of prolonged dissi-
pation, of advanced disease, with the upper parts
of the body exposed, not perhaps more than is cus-
tomary at a fashionable charity ball, join in with
salacious abandon. These women, in .the phrase of
the Bard of Avon, belong to the class of the "cus-
tom shrunk," of one of whom a Roman satirist wrote :
" * * * but now.
That life is flagging at the goal, and like
An unstrung lute, her limbs are out of tune,
She is become so lavish of her presence,
56 Chicago, Satan's Sanctum.
That being daily swallowed by men's eyes
They surfeit at the sight.
She's grown companion to the common streets —
Want her who will, a stater, a three obolo piece,
Or a mere draught of wine, brings her to hand !
Nay ! place a silver stiver in your palm.
And, shocking tameness ! She will stoop forthwith
To pick it out."
As the morning hours draw nigh blear-eyed men
and women in all stages of intoxication, creep to
their holes to sleep away the day for a renewal of
their orgies when darkness again falls.
In these all night saloons robberies and bur-
glaries are planned, and hold-ups arranged for. To
them young girls are enticed when homeward bound
from summer gardens and midwinter balls. Plans
are laid for their ruin through drink, and the ex-
citement of an experience new to them, which hide
from their view all danger signals. Women are
beaten and stabbed in them. Here young men begin
their careers of dissipation, of lechery, and, perhaps,
of crime, amid surroundings so contrary to the
examples of home life, that before they are aware
Chicago, Satan's Sanctum. 57
of it, they have become hopelessly enamored of what
is termed a sporting life.
The flippantly spoken word provokes a heated
reply, a jealous woman, surcharged with drink, pre-
cipitates a squabble that swells into a free fight, a
free fight brings an indiscriminate firing of revol-
vers, and the consequent death — the murder — of
some of the rioters follows. Then, and not until
then, do the police raid the place. For a few
weeks it is kept under the ban, but gradually the
law's grip is relaxed, signs of the old life revive,
and soon the same scenes made more joyous and
boisterous at the "new opening" are again enacted,
to run the same course until another felony is com-
mitted, and another temporary closing of the doors
enforced.
That the all night saloon where such depravity
is permitted to hold sway is a menace to the
peace, the sobriety, and the safety of the commu-
nity, is a self evident proposition.
A minister in one of his sermons said, "The
police wank when you call their attention to the fact
that hundreds of saloons are running wide open all
58 Chicago, Satan's Sanctum.
night. It is after midnight that the majority of
the crimes are committed, and yet these places are
allowed to run after hours, and have the protection
of the police."
The beardless boy and the habitual drunkard are,
alike, supplied with drink without question. The
former is flattered by being called "a dead game
sport," and the latter tickled with the oft-bestowed
title of "old sport."
Many of these notorious dens are located in the
midst of a forest of houses of ill fame. The de-
praved inmates of these houses, partly clad, are the
most indecent visitors to the all night saloons.
Perched upon the bar, or peering out from the pri-
vate wine rooms, they shout their infamous lan-
guage at the visitors, with invitations to indulgence
in the most bestial of practices.
Slumming parties, composed of respectable men
and women whose morbid curiosity has been aroused
by tales of the inconceivable vices forming the
night-life of the demi-monde, are not infrequently
foimd "going down the line" dropping into the
houses of prostitution, viewing the bar, the private
' Chicago, Satan's Sanctum. 59
rooms, the dance hall, the crap games and the vicious
surroundings of the all night pest holes. To slum
has, in a measure, become a fashionable fad. Its
purpose is, not to carry into these haunts the ex-
ample of a better life, but to cater to a dangerous
spirit of inquiry, upon the principle that excite-
ment, even though it be found in the midst of the
garbage boxes of vice, is relished now and then by
the best of mankind. The only indication of a
world outside, in which Christian principles prevail,
is occasionally to be found, when some of the women
garbed in the simple uniform of either the Salva-
tion or Volunteer Army, engaged in rescue work,
or in scattering a hopeful word, through the medium
of their publications, pass among the crov/d, receiv-
ing in most instances respectful attention, and, at
times, but rarely, a jeer from some drunken sot or
wrecked woman.
The houses of ill fame, whose stained glass win-
dows with suggestive female figures in the nude
advertise the abode of the scarlet woman, are as
luxuriously furnished as is the home of the wealthy
and respectable citizen. These "creatures of sale,"
6o . Chicago, Satan's Sanctum.
as Shakespeare puts it, are as clearly distinguished
ill public as members of the demi-monde, as if the
Julian laws were in operation in Chicago. In early
Rome, under these laws, the courtesan was com-
pelled to dye her hair blue or yellow. Like the
Grecian courtesan whose distinctive mark of her
calling was blonde hair, the strumpet of today gen-
erally favors a fashion coming down from the past
ages. The passer-by of these abodes of sensuality
is invited by open solicitation or unmistakable ges-
ture to enter them, especially by the more degraded
of the women. A studied decorum is maintained
in some of the parlors of the older establishments,
presided over by a proprietress advanced in years,
plentiful in wealth, and dictatorial in management.
Harsh rules are prescribed for the maintenance of
the condition of slavery into which the girls have
fallen. Debts to the house tie them to it by bands
too strong to be easily broken, in what are termed
the aristocratic branches of this nefarious trade.
These women are none the less free from indul-
gence in unnatural practices than are those of
houses of reputed lower degrees of depravity. White
Chicago, Satan's Sanctum. 6i
and colored alike revel in the same scenes of car-
nality which, fragments of history state, prevailed
in the declining days of Rome and of Greece. The
inmates of the lowest of these houses, both in
dress, or in the absence of it, and in deportment,
follow the habits of the Dicteriades, or low down
prostitues, of Piraeus in the time of Pericles.
Their appearance in the reception parlors in a state
of nudity, and their filthiness in practice is a re-
newal of the habits of the Lesbian lovers of the
fifth century ; or of the flute players of the Athe-
nian banquets, accounts of whose indecent dancing
and depraved ways are found in the most erotic
chapters in ancient literature. From them come the
terms applying to the devotees in these days of
sodomitic indulgence, forming part of the slang of
the neighborhood where they live a debauched and
beastly existence.
The superstitions of the Grecian and Roman
courtesan are carried into the beliefs of those of
modern days. What the philters or love charms
were to the former, luck powders are to the latter.
They are known along the levee as "Sally White's
62 Chicago, Satan's Sanctum.
Brand" and "Sally White's Mixed Luck." The
former is regarded as particularly lucky. It is a
compound of "Sally's" own prescription, and is
secretly sprinkled on the floor, at stated periods,
as luck is sought after, or is burned in a room and
the fumes inhaled. The latter is a mixture of per-
fumed oils and is used in the bath. The women
are the frequent buyers of Sally's prescriptions,
avoiding purchasing on a Friday.
The sources from which come the supply to the
ranks of courtesans, whether inmates of the aris-
tocratic, the middle, or the lowest grades of their
temples of vice, are many, various and damnable.
Aside from the mere desire to gratify passion,
which medical writers maintain constitutes but a
small percentage of those who join the army of
prostitutes, attributable to an innate sense of virtue
in the modern woman, cabmen, in spite of the mu-
nicipal ordinances, have been known to drive women
entering the city to these brothels on the pretext
they were hotels. The procuress is at work all the
while.
Chicago, Satan's Sanctum. 63
"Thou hold'st a place for which the paind'st fiend
Of hell would not in reputation change.
Thou art the damned doorkeeper to every
Coistril that comes inquiring for his Tib;
To the choleric fisting of every rogue
Thy ear is liable ; thy food is such
As hath been belched on by infected lungs."
The department stores, in which starvation wages
are paid to girls and women, who are subjected to
the attentions of designing men, invited to lunch,
induced to drink ; whose love for dress and whose
vanity are worked upon ; those whose want of edu-
cation in the relations of the sexes brings about
their speedy fall ; the servant turned out from her
employment ruined by her employer or his son ; the
seamstress ; the victims of unhappy marriages and
cruel homes ; those compelled by poverty or neces-
sity, and who support dependent relatives ; the
"chippies" of modern days; the massage parlor grad-
uates; all contribute their distressed quotas to this
ever increasing tribe of prostitutes.
It gathers in recruits from the overflow of the
assignation houses, which are scattered over this
64 Chicago, Satan's Sanctum.
city in astonishing profusion. They are found in
boulevard castles and in back alley huts. They do
not differ in character from those of all cities.
Through them come the cast-off women, who, hav-
ing satisfied the temporary infatuation of their se-
ducers, find themselves victims of false promises,
and the graduates from homes wrecked by the dis-
covery of their daylight intrigues. So relentless a
warfare is waged upon these private, and in some
instances most exclusive, resorts, by the lynx-eyed
police, that in the year 1897, nineteen keepers of
such places were arrested ! Some improvement is
noticeable in their suppression from the fact that
in 1894 seventeen, in 1895 five, and in 1896 fifteen
keepers were arrested ! Interference with this style
of accommodation is, therefore, possible in Chicago,
at or about the time of the arrival of the millennium !
Singular to say there are moralists who assign
the prostitute a position of usefulness in modern
civilization. One of the most distinguished of Eng-
lish writers, in tracing the effects of Christianity
upon mankind and its beneficent influences in social
life, says : "Under these circumstances there has
Chicago, Satan's Sanctum. 65
arisen in society a figure which is certainly the
most mournful, and, in some respects, the most
awful upon which the eye of the moralist can dwell.
That unhappy being whose very name is a shame
to speak, who counterfeits, with a cold heart, the
transports of affection, and submits herself as a
passive instrument of lust, who is scorned and in-
sulted as the vilest of her sex, and doomed for the
most part to disease and abject wretchedness, and
an early death, appears in every age as the per-
petual symbol of the degradation and the sinfulness
of man. Herself the supreme type of vice, she is
ultimately the most efficient guardian of virtue.
But for her the unchallenged purity of countless
happy homes would be polluted, and not a few, who
in the pride of their untempted chastity think of
her with an indignant shudder, would have known
the agony of remorse and of despair. On that one
degraded and ignoble form are concentrated the pas-
sions that might have filled the world with shame.
She remains, while creeds and civilizations rise
and fade, the external priestess of humanity, blasted
for the sins of the people."
66 Chicago, Satan's Sanctum.
The entertainer of the wholesale house who con-
ducts his country customer to see the sights of the
town, whenever and wherever such sights are to be
seen, "where everything goes," pays the expenses
of the round of debauchery from the fund pro-
vided by his firm; while from the floating, passing,
male visitors, no less than from the resident male
dwellers, young and old, rich and poor, come the
thousands of dollars which go to the support of the
lewd woman of the town, from the street walker,
up through the mistresses and the shady wives, to
the best dressed and most brazen wanton in the
palaces — the "swell" houses so styled. The unre-
vealable indecencies which attend these infamous re-
sorts are within the knowledge of the police, under
any and every municipal administration. At times
their pressure upon these unfortunates is heavier
than at others. The necessity of raising campaign
funds, the personal wants of the blackmailers of
the police force, the revenges to be gratified for
some jealousy aroused, or favor refused, all con-
tribute to increase the weight of oppression. Mean-
while, in the absence of municipal regulations, which
Chicago, Satan^'s Sanctum. 67
seem abhorrent to the average American mind as a
recognition of the legaHzation of vice, diseases are
wide spread, until, in the language of a distinguished
physician, the most destructive of them have reached
the blood of "the best and noblest families of the
land." Lecky, in his History of European Morals,
speaking of the horrible effects incident to the non-
regulation of houses of this character, says: "In
the eyes of every physician, and, indeed, in the
eyes of most continental writers who have adverted
to the subject, no other feature of English life ap-
pears so infamous as the fact that an epidemic,
which is one of the most dreadful now existing
among mankind, which communicates itself from the
guilty husband to the innocent wife, and even trans-
mits its taint to her offspring, and which the ex-
perience of other nations conclusively proves may be
vastly eliminated, should be suffered to rage un-
checked, because the legislature refuses to take of-
ficial cognizance of its existence, or proper sanitary
measures for its repression."
The protests of Christian organizations and of
societies for the suppression of vice seem to be in
68 Chicago, Satan's Sanctum.
vain. The city ordinances prohibiting, for instance,
the employment of females in massage parlors pa-
tronized by men, and others, intended to keep the
conduct of all manufactories of vice within limits,
if not to accomplish their suppression, dre not at-
tempted to be enforced.
Some mitigation of the evils of police aggression
has been brought about, as has been observed, by
placing police magistrates under a salary sufficiently
large to induce them to partly abolish the practice
of wholesale midnight arrests, with their consequent
fees and bailors' exactions. These fees are now
accounted for more rigidly and paid over to the
city, whether they are the result of daylight or mid-
night arrests. These evils are not, however, wholly
eradicated, nor will they be, until an aroused public
sentiment shall give as much attention, public serv-
ice, and personal endeavor, to the attainment of that
most desirable end, as is given to the building of
an armory, the establishment of lake front parks.
Greater Chicago, the passage of revenue bills, and
the defeat of the attempt to obtain public franchises
without compensation to the granting municipality.
Chicago, Satan's Sanctum. 69
Whatever will tend to create wealth for the indi-
vidual, to increase the volume of trade, or add to
the attractiveness of the city in the improvement
or adornment of its public parks, the energetic and
pushing citizen aids with his personal services, and
abundant wealth. Its moral attractions receive, in
so far as the repression of villainy and of dis-
gusting vice is concerned, but Httle, if any, personal
or pecuniary assistance from the people. At a re-
cent meeting of the Law Enforcement League, a
clergyman, who had freely given his time and serv-
ices in behalf of the objects of that association,
begged for the paltry sum of $250 with which to
carry on the work. It was received by contribu-
tion from his audience after repeated appeals. Had
it been a meeting for stock subscriptions to some
corporation promising large returns, or for the pur-
pose of building a monument to some former day
hero, or author, the appeal would not have had to
fall upon the ears of the people repeatedly. The
request would have been granted upon its first pres-
entation. "This work," said the preacher, "cannot
be carried on by sympathy, or applause, or resolu-
70 Chicago, Satan's Sanctum.
tions, or expressions of good will. There is noth-
ing but hard cash that counts in the practical work
of enforcing the law,"
CHAPTER IV.
Re-election of Mayor — False Issue Upon Which
Re-elected — Vices in Chicago — "Blind Pigs"
— Protected by Police — Where Situated —
How Conducted — Classes — Drug Stores, Bak-
eries, Barns — Revenue to Police — Located
Near Univ^ersities — Lieutenant of Police
Convicted for Protecting — Cock Fighting —
Bucket Shops — Woimen Dealers — Pool Rooms
— Police Play — Pulling of. Farcical — Views
of Chief of Police — Players — Landlords —
Book Making — Alliance Between, and Police
and Landlords — New York and Chicago — Chi-
cago Police Force Worst — Hold Up Men —
Methods — Victims — Police Sleep — Mayor's
Felicitations, April ii, 1899 — Accounts of
Hold Ups, Same Day — Classes of Hold-Up Men
— Strong Armed Women — Street Car Conduct-
ors Robbed — Ice Chest and Ovens for Prisons
— Hair Clippers — Protection to Criminals —
"Safe Blowers' Union" — Fakes — Panel
Houses — Badger Games — Nude Photographs —
Pbscene Literature — Confidence Men — Di-
ploma Mills — Gambling — Women's Down
Town Clubs — Sexual Perverts — Opium Joints.
That public opinion can be aroused on any ques-
tion deemed of importance to the municipal wel-
fare finds abundant confirmation in the history of
72 Chicago, Satan's Sanctum.
Chicago, and that that opinion can make itself felt
at the polls has but recently been most remarkably-
demonstrated. Admittedly deficient, both by friend
and foe, in public assemblages called in behalf of
its retention in power; permitting the violation of
the law, in all its departments ; openly consenting
to the unrestrainted lechery of the debauched classes,
the wide open running of gambling houses, pool
rooms and disorderly houses ; aiding by its refusal,
or neglect, to stop the levying by the police of pro-
tection rates upon poker rooms, crap games, pool
rooms and dens of that class, the pitfalls and snares
set for the young men of the town ; assessing for
political purposes the keepers of disreputable resorts
of all kinds, and the employes of the city under civil
service rules in defiance of a law sternly prohibit-
ing that demoralizing practice ; an administration
appealed to, and received, the support of nearly a
majority of the whole people, upon one fictitiously
dominant issue, under which all others were adroitly
sheltered and wholly hidden from view.
That issue which concerned the people as an in-
corporated body, rather more than as individuals,
Chicago, Satan's Sanctum. 73
was practically non-existing. The power to invade
the rights of the people had been destroyed by State
legislation. In the absence of new legislation, the
extension of railroad franchises is now an impossi-
bility, except under the terms of the existing char-
ter. No legislation can be obtained in enlargement
of such municipal power, until the next general
assembly shall have convened in January, 1901, unless
a special session should be called for that particular
purpose, the probability of which is too remote to
be considered. Meanwhile the new administration
which will be carried on for the next two years by
practically the same men as for the past two years,
can find no refuge behind an issue of supposedly
overwhelming importance to hide its neglect of oth-
ers, which affect, if not directly, yet indirectly, the
financial interests of the city. Those matters, to
which the administration of the city must now give
its attention, concern the purity of municipal leg-
islation ; the proper enforcement of the laws in all
departments of the city government; no interfer-
ence in matters of education; no attempt at the
control of the civil service commission in the strict
74 Chicago, Satan's Sanctum.
enforcement of the law creating it; the proper let-
ting of contracts, and the preservation of pay-rolls
from manipulation and fraudulent swelling. The
purity of municipal legislation is assured by the
election of a number of aldermen whose records as
citizens warrant the prediction that they, joining
with an already trusty minority, for the ensuing year
at least, will conserve public rather than private
interests, guided by the promptings of each individ-
ual conscience. There will be no opportunity to
filch from them for party ends, or for personal ad-
vancement, due public acknowledgment of their
integrity and ability. But the enforcement of the
laws governing municipal administration in its sev-
eral departments ; the proper disbursement of its
appropriation funds for street improvements, scav-
enger service, street and alley cleaning, public
buildings and parks, etc. ; the management of the
school-board by its own officials, free from po-
litical suasion; of the civil service commission
along the lines contemplated by the law free from
party dictation, and the elevation of the police force
to the plane of its non-political duties, for the pre-
Chicago, Satan's Sanctum. 75
vention of the spread of vice and indecency, the
repression of crime, the protection of Hfe and prop-
erty, are all matters, the non-attention to which can
no longer be excused upon the theory of the ne-
cessity of first destroying an attempted private
seizure of the public streets, a theory which has
gone to its destruction by the repeal of an ob-
noxious law, under which seizure might have been
accomplished.
So far as the suppression of vice is concerned,
the initial duty of municipal administration is the
education of the police in their duties as imposed
upon them by law. For years, under every ad-
ministration, with infrequent, feeble attempts at
reform, that force has been rapidly becoming a
fleet of harveyized steel battleships, sailing under
the flaunting flag of vice, fully armed, and loy-
ally serving the kings of the gamblers, the queens
of the demi-monde, and their conjoined forces of
thieves, confidence men, cappers, prostitutes, philan-
derers, etc., etc. It is not in the least fearful of
public opinion. If wealth can snap its fingers and
cry aloud "The public be d — d," so can the force
76 Chicago, Satan's Sanctum.
laugh in its sleeve, and, aping wealth, echo "To
hell" with the public.
It is not different in Chicago from what it is
in New York. The temporary disappearance from
the "Tenderloin" of many of its flagrant vices, and
the supposed purification of the police force follow-
ing the astounding revelations of the Lexow com-
mittee, have given way under the ceaseless and in-
sidious assaults of criminal and vicious influences.
A New York journal recently said: "The reports
to the Society for the Prevention of Crime show
that the city is in worse condition than ever before.
No paper would dare print all that is done openly
in dens of vice that are tolerated by the police. The
reports seem almost incredible ; they show that
with few exceptions the police force is corrupt
from top to bottom. Gambling houses, disorderly
houses and dives of the worst description flourish
openly, a regular schedule of rates has been es-
tablished which the police force charge for pro-
tection.
The flagrancy of crime which brought about a
political revolution five years ago exists today as
Chicago, Satan's Sanctum. 77
it did then. In some ways there is even less at-
tempt at concealment than there was in the ante-
Lexow days ; in others the vice and immorality is
more hidden. But it is here, and instead of there
being one "Tenderloin" ulcer on the city there are
now four, each fully as extended as was that old hot-
bed of vice."
What the police force of New York was before
the investigation of the Lexow committee, so the
police force of Chicago then was ; and what the
New York force is today, so is the Chicago force.
A new investigation is about to begin in New York
city. Watch its revelations day after day. Change
the names, and for every police infamy revealed,
every unspeakable vice disclosed, every violation of
law recorded, their counterparts can be found in Chi-
cago, intensified, not modified.
The crimes which these "coppers" should, but
do not, give their services to repress, are numerous,
if minor in character. In flagrant cases of com-
mission arrests may follow, and often do. It is
the unused means of prevention deadened by the
purchased indifiference of the officers, that is the
most glaring of police sins.
78 /Chicago, Satan's Sanctum.
The location of "blind pigs," or those places in
which liquor is sold without a license, both
within prohibition districts as well as without
them, must either be known to ofificers traveling
beats whereon they flourish, or such officers are
too ignorant to belong to the ranks. It is not ig-
norance of the officers that prevents their suppression.
Superiors are paid a price for non-interference.
The patrolman follows his orders, permits the il-
licit traffic to be carried on by those who pay that
price, and reports only those who do not pay it, but
who seek to conduct the prohibited business with-
out contribution to the permissive fund.
In the most respectable settlements of the city,
in the very heart of prohibition districts, in which
there would be spasms of protest and whirlwinds
of indignation if it were even suggested that the
lines separating the prohibitive from the non-pro-
hibitive districts should be abolished, are to be
found the highest grade of the breed of "blind
pigs." They are the brilliantly lighted, well ar-
ranged, and aristocratic types of the modern drug-
store, where, as the evening shades descend, a band
Chicago, Satan's Sanctum. 79
of friendly Indians asscniljles to discuss the events
of the day, conduct wars, shape the destinies of na-
tions, and draw their inspiration from spiritus fer-
menti op., a drug commonly known, however, as
whisky, when obtained without a prescription at the
bar of the ordinary licensed saloon. These whisky
jacks express amazement at the want of proper
regulation of the sale of liquor, while aiding in its
unlawful traffic. They are typical Archimagos ;
high priests of hypocrisy and deceit . They are the
open mouthed reformers who shout for a rigorous
application of the law for the regulation of saloons
outside of their own prohibition districts, for the
maintenance of prohibition within those districts,
and who wink at their own infractions of the license
laws, behind the prescription case — their private bar.
This form of attack upon the license law exists
all over the city, more so perhaps in prohibition
districts than without them, but each drug store,
as a rule, has its patrons from whom a yearly reve-
nue is derived by the accommodating and equally
guilty proprietor who vends his drinks without com-
pliance with the law.
8o Chicago, Satan's Sanctum.
The other class of "blind pigs" owes its exist-
ence to a prearranged bargain between a policeman
and the members of that class, who, for the enter-
tainment of friends, and the turning of a penny,
embark in the business without fear of arrest. As
the sale of liquor for use upon the premises as a
beverage is lawful when licensed, every combina-
tion to evade a license is not only an evasion of
the penalties of the license law, but it is a conspir-
acy to rob the city of a portion of a large revenue,
sufficient almost to support the police force. The
city is thus plundered by its own servants who
take its place in fixing the amount of the license,
and who appropriate it when collected to their own
use.
Some of these institutions are to be found in
the rear of bakeries, in the costly barns of the
wealthy classes with coachmen as bartenders, and
at the gates of the silent cities of the dead.
They are a fruitful source of revenue to the
police, and, consequently, difficult of discovery, since
their patrons must be well known as non-squealers,
and the police are too loyal to turn informers.
Chicago, Satan's Sanctum. Si
They exist in surrounding country towns and
in classic neighborhoods, in Evanston and Hyde
Park particularly. Both of these locahties are the
seats of institutions of learning; the Northwestern
University at the one, and the University of Chi-
cago at the other.
A Lieutenant of Police was arrested for extort-
ing money for protection from the keeper of a blind
pig in Hyde Park. It developed, in the course of
of his trial, that he was to pay part of the insur-
ance premium to a brewery company. To such
an extent has this blackmailing scheme gone, that
its proceeds are distributed not alone among patrol-
men and superior police ofificials, but also to brew-
ing companies united in a trust afifecting the price
and the quality of the poor man's beverage.
The national pastime of the Filipinos is of com-
mon occurrence in Chicago, and escapes the watch-
ful eyes of the police, although its uniformed mem-
bers pass the door of the saloon with which the
principal pit is connected. The entering crowds,
and the crowing of "birds," never fail to announce
the on-coming of the main, except to sightless
82 Chicago, Satan's Sanctum.
eyes and deafened ears. No underground or out
of hearing place is selected for these exhibitions
of cock fighting. They are held in the rear of
saloons, or in barns or stables connected therewith
by covered ways of approach. One geographical
division of the city is generally pitted against the
other.
Usually the indignant police, even with early
information of the time and place where and when
this inhuman amusement is to be held, arrive upon
the scene when the fight has, ended, the lights ex-
tinguished, and the sports scattered. Although the
city council possesses the charter power to prevent
these disgraceful combats, that power remains un-
acted upon, and the offense falls within the defini-
tion of disorderly conduct, the penalty prescribed
by ordinance, upon conviction for that offense,
being a fine of from one to one hundred dollars.
Bucket shops have nearly disappeared from the
public gaze. They are, nevertheless, still carried
on in secret, for the purpose of enabling men and
women to gratify their natural propensity for gam-
bling. The active efforts of one man, having the
Chicago, Satan's Sanctum. 83
courage of his convictions and with the support
of a commercial organization, which is the only com-
petitor of these gambling concerns, have kept them
in comparative subjection. Yet, such is the re-
sistance made by them, that this man, aiding also
in the discovery and punishment of gambling in
general, ran the risk of the destruction of his life,
his home, and the loss of the lives of his family,
by the explosion of a bomb thrown at night into,
or against, his house, by some miscreant or mis-
creants, with the evident intent of "removing" him
as an impediment to the transactions of their mur-
derous employers.
The police, after much effort to discover the
perpetrators of the outrage, finally dismissed it
from further examination, upon the theory that
this man had himself "put up the job," to accom-
plish the destruction of his wife and children,
and of his own life. Through this heroic man's
efforts, together with those of a fearless and out-
spoken clergyman, as in New York, and not by
reason of police assistance, but in spite of police
resistance, the convictions in the criminal court, in
84 Chicago, Satan's Sanctum.
the past year for gambling, are wholly "due. The
latest accessible reports show that in the year 1897
the number of places closed during the two pre-
ceding years was one hundred and forty-six, and
that at the end of 1897 there were twenty-nine still
in existence, including tape games and fraudulent
brokers' haunts. These institutions possess a pe-
culiar fascination for women. Three of them,
patronized wholly by the female sex, were found
under one roof. Of the leading one, a writer
in a city daily newspaper, in a vivid description of
its general surroundings, said :
"The atmosphere of the rooms is stifling and
poisonous. The odor is rank with the effluvia
of bodies, which, in many cases, present the ap-
pearance that would justify the belief that they
have been strangers to the bath for weeks. To go
into these rooms out of the fresh outdoor world is
to almost suffocate at first. * * * The effects
are plainly visible in the faces of the women. They
had, with few exceptions, leathery, sallow skins,
drawn and tense features, hard lines about the
mouth, and wrinkles between the eyes, while the
Chicago, Satan's SaxXctum. 85
eyes themselves had acquired a restless, half cun-
ning expression, composed of cupidity and uncer-
tainty. As for their nervous systems they are
wrecks. Take the hand of any woman in those
rooms, especially if she has just made an invest-
ment, and the nervous vibration is plain — her hand
quivers, her whole body is tense, her bulging eyes
fix themselves on the board."
Alluding to the men who hang around, furnish-
ing "pointers," and looking for an invitation to a
fifteen-cent lunch, one of the speculating women
said of them, "These men are the lowest creatures
who come up here ; most of the women are re-
spectable, but these men are lazy, dirty, ignorant
and infinitely low, and all they are after is to get
money and a free meal out of women."
"The ages of the women range from twenty-five
to seventy years. The older women peered anx-
iously through their spectacles at the board and
whispered quietly to a companion ; wisps of ragged
gray hair escaped and waved below the little black
bonnet. Heavy, thick-soled shoes stuck out from
the hem of the modest black gowns; they grasped
86 Chicago, Satan's Sanctum.
worn silk reticules in their nervous fingers, and
got out the small sum which, in most instances,
they did not have the nerve to invest."
Describing the condition in life of these women,
the reporter was told that some had been wealthy,
and were now poor through speculation; while
"more than two-thirds are the mothers of families
and are eking out a little income, in many instances
supporting an idle, worthless man, who should him-
self be out in the world earning a living."
"If they make 75 cents a day it is a big day
for them," said the reporter's informant. "How lit-
tle you realize the state to which many of these
women are brought! Many of them are almost
penniless. Frequently they come here in the morn-
ing and borrow money with which to begin the day's
operations."
Pool rooms, as a general rule, run wide open;
occasionally they are "closed for repairs" caused
by a police raid, forced by some flagrant outrage
against the law. They flourish in the most public
places, with no restriction upon admission to any
visitor. The daily races all over the country are
Chicago, Satan's Sanctum. 87
posted on large black boards covering the walls,
with a list of the horses entered and a minute of
the odds which will be given or demanded by the
house, from which the room's judgment of the
"favorite" can be ascertained.
The money is handled openly, bet openly, and
paid openly. City detectives assist in their man-
agement, and "play the races." Raids contemplated
by the police are tipped off to the managers, and
when the officers arrive the game has closed.
The incidents attending an actual pull are in the
main more laughable than impressive. The "hurry
up" wagon takes its load away, and before many
moments have elapsed the same faces are seen
again returning to the one attractive spot in their
daily lives. These rooms are munificent contribu-
tors for protection. They pay from $600 to $1,000
per month. They hold back telegraphic messages
of the results of races until their confederates have
placed bets. They are patronized by women of,
apparently, all classes. In one raid eighteen women
were captured, fifteen of whom claimed to be mar-
ried. All of them, of course, gave fictitious names;
88 Chicago, Satan's Sanctum.
three had babies in their arms ; three claimed they
were wives of pohcemen; a few were well dressed,
and all were undoubtedly devotees of gambling,
sporting women who fancied they had discovered
the way to lead an easy and money-making life.
The following extract, taken from the examina-
tion of the head of the police force of the city,
will show the view entertained by that official of
the nature of his duties, in this regard.
Before the senatorial committee appointed Jan-
uary 6th, 1898, to investigate scandals in connection
with the police force, its Chief was interrogated and
answered as follows, viz. :
Q. How many pool rooms have you pulled, how
many men have been arrested and convicted for pool
selling since you have been chief?
A. I understand one fellow has been found guilty
and fined $2,000..
Q. But he was arrested by the Sheriff of Cook
County, indicted by the grand jury because the
police would not do it?
A. I don't know whether it was because the po-
lice would not do it, or because they could not do it.
Chicago, Satan's Sanctum. 89
Q. Well, it was because they did not do it. Do
you mean to say that you, as Chief of Police, with
3,500 sworn men
A. Don't say 3,500 men. It is 2,500 men; don't
make it quite so strong.
Q. Do you say to this committee, that with
2,500 sworn men in this city you are powerless to
stop the public running of pool rooms in this city?
A. I will say that I am powerless to stop a
man from making hand books, or selling pools
confidentially to his friends.
Q. Do you know of any pool rooms being con-
ducted in this city during the months of October,
November and December?
A. I don't know of my own knowledge; I never
was in one.
Q. Did any of the 2,500 men ever report any-
thing of that kind to you?
A. I never had any definite report on that sub-
ject.
O. They were giving the people a liberal gov-
ernment ?
A. Yes, things were running very easy.
90 Chicago, Satan's Sanctum.
Q. I will get you to state if it is not a fact that
a large number of pool rooms were running openly
with telegraph operators in the place, pools were
being sold, money paid, and everything running at
full blast?
A. I never was present; I don't know anything
about it.
Q. Was there any complaint to you of that kind
of thing being done?
A. No particular complaint at all. The news-
paper boys often came around and said there was
pool selling going on at different places.
Q. Could not the police of the city of Chicago
as readily have found these people who have been
fined for gambling as the Sheriff?
A. Well, I don't know. I presume if a desperate
effort had been made to look that kind of thing up
ijoe might, possibly, Jiave been successful."
Through these resorts, which offer inducements
for betting on distant horse races, the confidential
clerk, the outside collector for business houses,
the employes of banks, young men in all grades
of employment involving the handling of the funds
Chicago, Satan's Sanctum. 91
of their employers, together with the men of mod-
erate salaries, working men, and the large number
of sports who live by their wits, are assisted in
a downward career, until defalcations, destitution in
homes, and a still more acute phase of living on
one's wits, are reached, followed by flight, arrest,
conviction, imprisonment, the breaking up of homes,
and the necessity for the resort of the broken sport
to the tactics of the hold-up man.
Yet they are tolerated, until their shameless
management becomes a public scandal. Then fol-
lows a pull, a period of purification of very slight
duration, and again a slow start. Speedily again
they are in as full gallop as are the horses whose
names they post, and as around the race track the
horses go, so around the vice track the pool rooms
go. The losing patrons pass under the wire at
the end of their foolish struggle to win, some to
the penitentiary, some to despair, and some to
suicide.
The keeper and the landlord who knowingly
permits his premises to be used for the selling of
pools, are, under the laws of the State of Illinois
92 Chicago, Satan's Sanctum.
enacted into an ordinance by the Municipal Code,
guilty of a misdemeanor, and are liable to pun-
ishment by imprisonment in the county jail for a
period not longer than one year, or by a fine not
exceeding $2,000, or both.
The police make no complaints to justices for
arrests, nor to their Chief, according to his testi-
mony. The keeper pays a high rent, while the
landlord, perhaps some sanctimonious deacon of a
church, who thanks God that he is not as other
men are, accepts his monthly returns with unctu-
ous satisfaction, shouts his amens louder, con-
fesses his sins more meekly, or excuses his vio-
lation of the laws of the state with a more em-
phatic shrug of his shoulders and a more fervid
rubbing of his hands.
Book making, "in which the betting is with the
book maker," and pool selling, in which the bet-
ting is among the purchasers of the pool, they
paying a commission to the seller, are both de-
nounced by the statute, and the court of last resort
of the state.
The unholy alliance between the police, the keeper
CHICAGO; Satan's Sanctum. 93
of these law breaking and despicable haunts, and
the conscienceless landlord, could be summarily
dissolved. The police could be made the enemy
of both. Their warm friendship for, and silent
participation in the profits of, the partnership, can
be destroyed by an executive order which needs
but to be issued, with no possibility of an early
revocation, to be implicitly obeyed by the sellers
and ''bookies." If not obeyed, then drastic meas-
ures within the power of the police to employ
should be applied. As these lines are written,
some evidence is visible of action by the police.
A raid has been made ! The inspector, under whose
order it was conducted, said', "The sooner these
men begin to learn that I mean what I say, the
better it will be for them. I want my officers to
understand, also, that they will have to be more
vigilant." Threatening words, such as these, are
common utterances by police officials, but hereto-
fore as their echo died away their fierceness dis-
appeared. No administration could lay claim to
higher praise in any city in the land than that
its police force is the guardian of the people's
94 .Chicago, Satan's Sanctum.
rights, the stern foe of crime, and the relentless
suppressor of vice and indecency through the en-
forcement of the laws created for that suppression.
If this is done in Chicago, a few of the devil's
aids in the diffusion of wickedness will disappear
from sight so completely that Asmodeus would
vainly tear off the roofs of the houses in a search
after proofs of his demoniacal power.
While the police force is so closely leagued
with pool rooms, and subjected to the power of
the money their keepers are willing to pay for per-
mission to carry on, their demoralizing business, it
is a matter of impossibility to destroy them. Vice
works incessantly; the means for its destruction
are employed spasmodically. New York City fur-
nishes an astonishing instance of the political
power exercised by a combination of the law
breakers.
The Lexow committee demonstrated the almost
total depravity of an officer, charged with a com-
mand over its "Tenderloin."
The city labored and Greater New York was
born. It would seem that greater crime and
Chicago, Satan's Sanctum. 95
greater political power in the criminal classes were
born at the same birth. That officer became Chief
of Police of the expanded metropolis. He had
been indicted under the scathing revelations against
him made by the Lexow committee, and yet de-
spite the evidence of his depravity, and the pro-
tests of the Society for the Prevention of Crime,
he was, through the power of politics and crime,
foisted upon the new municipality as the ranking
officer of its police organization. The result was
inevitable. New York, the greater, is now de-
calred to out-Satan New York, the lesser. A new
committee is probing into its police management.
At the outset of its proceedings it wrung from
this officer replies so self condemning as to stag-
ger one's faith in the possibility of such a quality
as obedience to official oath in a police officer.
The Chief was asked : O. Perhaps you can tell
how it is and why it is, that even while this com-
mittee is sitting in session here, the pool rooms are
open all around us, and I have in my pocket money
tliat my men won in the pool rooms?
A. Perhaps some of my men have it, too. They
are looking after it just the same as you are.
96 jChicago, Satan's Sanctum.
Q, But the pool rooms are running?
The Chief did not answer, but complained to
his questioner that he had not been informed of
the facts "officially."
The examination then proceeded as follows, viz.:
Q. Do you mean to say, as Chief of Police,
witli the men and money at your command, you
can't close the pool rooms?
"No," replied the Chief, "we do the best we
can, as we did when you were a Commissioner."
"I closed the pool rooms," shouted his ques-
tioner. "You did not," retorted the Chief; "they
were alleged to be, on reports of commanding offi-
cers, then as now."
"Yes," said the questioner, "but there was
some fatality about that business, if you know what
I mean,"
"Some forced fatalities," sneered the Chief.
"Well, sir," said the questioner, "here are three
great evils of importance — gambling houses, pool
rooms and policy shops — and you cannot recall
from your own recollection — you who are in charge
of the enforcement of the laws — a single arrest
Chicago, Satan's Sanctum. 97
in any one of these classes of crimes within a
month. What do you do for your salary as
Chief?"
A. "I look after the force as a whole ; I look
after all reports that come in touching all mat-
ters of the kind you refer to and all kinds
of crime."
The questioner called the Chief's attention to a
newspaper and some advertisements it carried. In
spite of the questioner's declaration that the paper
was a Tammany organ, and that all Tammany
men were supposed to buy it and read it, the Chief
declared that he never had done so. The ques-
tioner made the Chief a present of a copy of
the paper, and asked him to read over the mas-
sage advertisements. The Chief thanked him and
said, "I will attend to these places because I do
not believe in such disguises for disorderly houses.
Such places are usually in tenement houses and
flats. I will attend to them and drive them out."
"Will you make the same pledge about pool
rooms," demanded the questioner quickly?
"That I cannot promise," r:plied the Chief.
98 Chicago, Satan's Sanctum.
"Why can't you promise it?" asked the ques-
tioner.
"Because they conduct that sort of business in
places where we can't get at them, and you know
it, but I will try and stamp it out."
Chicago and New York methods quite agree,
with the advantage in favor of New York, In
the latter city, the Chief of Police "will try" to
stamp pool rooms out. In Chicago, the Chief,
in his reply to similar questions, said : "While
a man may come to my office and give informa-
tion that a certain individual is violating the law
somewhere and it is a trivial offense, I do not pay
so much attention to it as I do when a report
reaches my office that a man has committed a
serious crime, such as murder, that a serious crime
has been committed on the outside. I should nat-
urally abandon that part of it, and take up the
more serious offense, and I have been looking up
serious crimes, such as burglary, robbery and the
hold-up people, and I have made a desperate effort
to suppress that."
It was in this connection reference was made
Chicago, Satan's Sanctum. 99
by the committee to the fact that one of Chi-
cago's pohcemen had shortly before been arrested
for holding up a citizen and robbing him in
the daylight hours, which called forth the reply
already quoted in these pages to the effect that
this particular star had been tried, that he was a
member of the police force for ten years, was
a good officer, but got drunk and became a "little
indiscreet." For this he was dismissed from the
force, but reinstated because "many people" vouched
for him. It seems almost incredible that that man
is today a member of Chicago's police force; yet
such is the shameful fact.
Without the aid of the telegraph, the daily
newspaper and the race cards, pool rooms and
book making could not survive. They are the
means of giving vitality to this form of gam-
bling. The telegraph furnishes the press wnth
"events" all over the country, upon which pools
and books are made up. The news of the result
of a particular race is flashed by wire at once from
the race track to the pool rooms all over the land.
There is scarcely a daily newspaper in any city that
loo Chicago, Satan's Sanctum.
does not devote a page of its issue to sporting
events. Many of them have their "forms" or
"forecasts" of races, which are the guesses of their
sporting men as to the probable results of each race
to be run on a particular track. The race card
is distributed every evening throughout the city;
to cigar stores, saloons and billiard halls. It con-
tains the "results" of the day, together with in-
formation as to the entries for the following day's
races. Through these sources the sporting commu-
nity keeps in touch with the world.
A Chicago afternoon newspaper upon the occa-
sion of the opening of a race track in an adjoining
state presented in its issue its "Form of Today's
Races." To those unacquainted with the lingo of
the track its guesses are delightfully humorous.
Predicting the possible result of the first race,
the form says : "B. L. looks the best of the lot
on paper. If the trip from the east did not take
the edge off H. S. he should win easily, as he
showed considerable sprinting ability in his last out.
L. P. has a burst of speed which may put her in-
side of the money and with a good boy up is
Chicago, Satan's Sanctum. ioi
worth a show bet. The others are a poor lot and
of uncertain quahty, so that the finish will proba-
bly be B. L., etc." Of the second it remarks: "Of
these youngsters which have started C. has been
the most consistent and is undoubtedly the best,
but T. is rounding too rapidly and may run ahead
of the mark. F. A. is a sprinter, but if pinched
does not like the gaff. M. E. and M. are green
ones, and this is the first time they have faced
the barrier, so there is no line on them. C. T.
and F. A. should be the order of the finish." It
says of the third racers "M. is a soft spot, and, if
fit, she should win as she pleases. It looks as
if the real race should be for the place and the
show money, and will likely be between M. and A.
H. and T. are also partial to the going, but as
the latter has not started recently, T. should be the
better if any of the others named are scratched.
The result will likely be M. A., etc." Of another,
a colt race, its forecast is, "H is such a good colt
that he looks like a 2-to-5 shot in this bunch, and
that will be about what the books will lay against
him. Of course, he has dicky legs, but the soft
I02 Chicago, Satan's Sanctum.
undergoing will undoubtedly suit his underpinning.
The finish should be H. K., etc." The final race
is thus placed in the form : "At the best this is
a bad lot, and hardly worthy of doping, as so
much depends on the jockeys and start that any
one of the probable starters has a chance to get
the big end of the purse."
To this necessity has journalism come at last!
While it urges the suppression, in thundering
tones, of all manner of gambling, it is driven,
by the necessity of competition, to aid the most
injurious of gambling's many attractive methods.
Another Chicago newspaper, the columns of which
every morning contain the world's news of sport-
ing events, said a short time ago, editorially :
'Chief K 's assurance that he will do his best
to suppress gambling will be accepted in good faith.
He has made a start in that direction, and the far-
ther he goes the more plainly he will see that for
the police to suppress gambling is a mere matter
of lifting their hands. Gambling of the sort that
the police department is expected to suppress does
not flourish save by the connivance of police offi-
Chicago, Satan's Sanctum. 103
cers. It is quite true that to extirpate the vice
of gaming is beyond the power of the police. No-
body has expected them to do that. While the
board of trade and the stock exchanges remain open
one form of the vice will be practiced publicly
beyond the reach of the police. And so long as
cards and dice boxes are to be procured, degen-
erate human nature will practice the vice in secret.
But the police can stamp out the open and flagrant
practice of gambling in forms inhibited by the
law as easily as they can wink at it. It is a mat-
ter of saying "Yes" or "No." A poolroom or a
policy shop may open now and then, but it will
quickly shut again if the police are in earnest."
The assistance derived from the telegraph and
newspaper by the gambling fraternity is com-
mented upon by a modern writer, his subject
being "The Ethics of Gambling." He remarks,
"But it is time to emphasize the fact that the real
supports of the gambling habit in its present enor-
mous extent are the telegraph and the newspaper.
Half the race courses in the country would be
abandoned almost immediately if newspapers were
I04 Chicago, Satan's -Sanctum.
forbidden to report on betting, and if telegraph of-
fices declined to transmit agreements to bet, or in-
formation which is intended to guide would-be bet-
tors. How this is to be done it is not for me to
say. My present object and duty are exhausted
in pointing out the fact that the national life is
being deeply injured, the State seriously weakened
by the wide spread of the gambling habit, and fur-
ther, that this habit in its present extent and in-
tensity, is nourished most by the daily press and
the telegraph. It must certainly be in the power
of the State to deal with this, the most potent
instrument by which the gambling fiend fights his
way into home after home throughout the length
and breadth of the country."
"Hold up" men find Chicago their least dan-
gerous and, perhaps, their most profitable field of
operations. In all the various forms of this rob-
bery upon the street in day or at night time, or in
raiding saloons and stores, it is merciless in its
methods. Robbery accomplished, brutality follows.
The criminals who resort to it at night, not satis-
fied with acquiring their victim's property, usually
Chicago, Satan's Sanctum. 105
knock him unconscious with the butt end of a re-
volver, with a billy or sand bag, or blind him with
cayenne pepper, and in that hapless condition
leave him to be found, no matter what may be the
state of the weather. This form of criminality
is a winter's occupation. It is occasionally, but
rarely, followed in the summer months.
Women are held up in the streets at midday,
in the evening when returning home from labor,
on the street cars, and at the doors of their own
homes, and within them. No class is exempt
from the attacks of these marauders. The poor
suffer with the rich. They are of such frequent
occurrence that it is believed not one-fourth of
their number is reported to the police. The ineffi-
ciency of the force to prevent them is proverbial, and
that inefficiency finds much of its origin in the utter
disregard of the rules of the department requiring
patrolmen to travel their respective beats. The dis-
cipline of the force in this respect is nothing; it is
worn away by abrasion.
The colder the night and the warmer the near-
est saloon or kitchen range, there will the patrol-
io6 Chicago, Satan's Sanctum.
man be found. In the former case he is merely
dreaming of his duty; and in the latter, he is en-
gaged in a terrific struggle between love and duty.
Some back door of a house of ill fame is open to
him for shelter, for wine, and oftentimes for food.
The good-hearted landladies of these abodes know
full well that one way to reach the patrolmen sta-
tioned in their neighborhood is through their stom-
achs, not because they are officers, but because
they are men. In localities away from the bag-
nios, some servant girl, friendly to the "copper,"
protects him from the inclemency of the weather.
To her he gives his time and his devotions at the
city's expense. If on some, or on any winter's
night, an observation flight could be taken through
the air, and over the city, by the Chief, that official
would believe his occupation was gone ; for, ex-
cept here and there as some of his subordinates
were wending their way at the appointed hour to
a patrol box to report, he would fancy he was a
general deserted by his army. Closer inspection
would, however, reveal to him that never an army
had such comfortable winter quarters as has his.
Chicago, Satan's Sanctum. 107
While the patrolman thus enjoys his siesta, or in-
dulges in his love making, the hold up man lies
in wait on the unguarded beat, to slug and rob
the first belated wayfarer whom he may confront.
The number of hold ups in Chicago in the
year 1898, it is believed, exceeded in number those
of any two large cities in the United States com-
bined. The press, in fact, claims that their num-
ber was greater than in all of the cities of the
United States. They were of almost daily occur-
rence. They are just as numerous, and just as
ingenious and murderous in design, since the
continued administration was inaugurated, as before.
In the morning edition of the daily press of
April nth, 1899, the re-elected Mayor's felicita-
tions to the council in his annual message de-
livered on the previous evening were published in
these words :
"The people of Chicago have reason to congrat-
ulate themselves on the successful manner in which
the police department has coped with crime. It
is acknowledged on all hands that Chicago is a
singularly good place for thugs and thieves to
io8 Chicago, Satan's Sanctum.
avoid, and this notwithstanding the fact that the
size of the pohce force is utterly inadequate."
The evening papers of the same date report
the following as examples of how the thieves and
thugs avoid Chicago ;
"L. was arrested early yesterday morning for
alleged participation in a daring hold up, which
occurred near the corner of Van Buren and State
streets about an hour before. A cab containing
Mv. and Mrs. L. B., who live on Pine street, and
Mrs. C. D., of North Clark street, approached the
curb. As the three occupants alighted four or
five men rushed at them. One drew a revolver
and shouted : "Hands up." The other made a
dash at Mrs. D., who displayed some valuable jew-
elry, and snatched a watch worth $225 and a dia-
mond ring valued at $125. The highwaymen then
disappeared around the corner."
"Attacked by Three Negroes. — Stanton Avenue
police are looking for three negroes who held up
Albert T., of 37th street, at 33rd and Dearborn
sftreets last night and relieved him of $4.00 and
a watch. T. was standing under the shadow of
Chicago, Satan's Sanctum. 109
a building at tlie corner when three negroes ap-
proached him. One of them drew a revolver and
threatened T., while the other two searched him.
Many people were passing at the time, but the party
escaped all notice in the deep shadows."
"As Thomas L. and Joseph S. left Aid. K.'s sa-
loon early today, S. says he was robbed of $2.45 —
all the money he had."
"Robbed in a Saloon. — August J., bound for
Minneapolis from Finland, came to Chicago last
evening. He met a woman, and the two went
to Samuel M.'s saloon on State street, where J.
claims the woman held him up at the point of a
revolver and took all his money — $25. J. reported
the matter to the Harrison street police, and Offi-
cers C. and S. arrested Albert B., the bartender.
He was arraigned before Justice F. today on a
charge of being accessory to robbery. The woman
has not been arrested."
Following this, t\vo rnen boarded an outgoing
railroad train at night, and at one of its stopping
stations captured a passenger w^ho was standing
on the rear platform of a coach, dragged him
no Chicago, Satan's Sanctum.
away, robbed him of a small sum of money, a lady's
gold watch, took a plain gold ring from his finger,
then bound and gagged him and threw him into an
empty freight car near by.
Within three weeks after the publication of
this effusive compliment to the police, a citizen sent
the following communication to an evening paper,
which, together with the comments of that paper
upon it, is here inserted, as the best criticism of
the Mayor's optimistic view of the efficiency of his
police force :
'■'April 26, 1899. — Editor the J.: Not fewer
than 15 flats and residences in the district bounded
by West Adams street, Kedzie avenue, Homan
avenue and Washington boulevard have been plun-
dered recently. The thieves reside at , a fact
well known to the police, but all the efforts of the
suffering tax payers are unavailing in having them
arrested.
"The police authorities will not act. The ras-
cals have been at their present abode ( , first
flat) since early last autumn. Their landlord is
(well, I won't mention his name) well known.
Chicago, Satan's Sanctum. hi
Our community has become so terrorized that
no one dares remain out after dark. Can't you as-
sist us in our troubles? The poHce don't act.
"Resident of the District."
The comments of the paper read as follows,
viz. :
"The author of the above is a well-to-do West
side manufacturer. He says in a note which came
with this communication : 'Do not under any cir-
cumstances couple my name with it. We are all
afraid of our lives, believing that the thieves are
so desperate that they would murder any one dis-
closing their method and abode.'
This is the district in which George B. Fern and
Cora Henderson met their deaths under such myste-
rious circumstances.
Here is a partial list of the happenings of recent
date in this one neighborhood, the first four named
cases being within one business block :
GEORGE B. FERN, dry goods merchant, 1393
West Madison street ; found in his store with bul-
let hole in his head, mask and revolver with one
chamber empty at his side; police say he com-
112 Chicago, Satan's Sanctum.
mitted suicide; coroner's jury leturned a murder
verdict; the grand jury also declares it was a case
of murder.
CORA HENDERSON, blind woman, 1385 West
Madison street; found dead in her house, hole in
her skull; murder theory worked upon by police;
later theory advanced that she might have met her
death by a fall.
F. W., tailor. West Madison street; robbers
drove up to his store in broad daylight while he
was eating in a restaurant next door and intimi-
dated clerk with revolver, loaded in tailor's cloth,
drove away.
W. H. D., West Madison street, grocer; hole
drilled in his safe; burglars scared away when D.
came to open store.
MRS. FRANK W., Washington boulevard, house
entered; $200 stolen.
MRS. MARGARET D., Washington boulevard;
house entered ; $200 worth of property taken.
MRS. WARREN F. H., Warren avenue; house
entered ; $500 worth of property taken.
MRS. CHARLES C, Washington boulevard;
Chicago, Satan's Sanctum, 113
hearing a noise at her front door, went onto the
porch ; a burglar who had been trying to force an
entrance into the second story dropped at her side,
revolver in hand ; he escaped, frightening off pur-
suers with his revolver.
DR. F. F. S., West Monroe street and Homan
avenue; two men attempted to hold him up in his
office; frightened away by the arrival of a
patient.
PROF. CHARLES E. W., Chicago Piano col-
lege ; chased by mounted foot pad.
MRS. ELIZABETH H. T., M. D., Warren
avenue; swindled out of $60 by men who had a
'sure thing' on the races.
JOHN v., West Monroe street; swindled by
same game.
WILLIAM H. P., bookkeeper for C. S. & Co.,
\Vest Monroe street ; house robbed.
HERMAN W., West Monroe street; house
robbed of diamonds, jewelry and silverware; Mrs.
W. coming home, encounters robbers as they were
leaving; they politely raised their hats and
walked on.
114 Chicago, Satan's Sanctum.
H. S. B., real estate, West Adams street; can-
didate for president of M. club ; house robbed.
ARTHUR W. C, Illinois Credit Company, West
Adams street; house robbed.
JOHN G., grocer; attempt made to swindle him
out of $100 by men with 'tip' on races.
The above list was obtained by a brief canvass
of the neighborhood.
The house given as the abode of the "thieves" is
situated right in this neighborhood, which is one
of the best residence districts. It is a gray stone
structure and is said to be owned by a well known
West side politician. In this place lives at least
one of the men who have swindled numerous West
side residents of this district by means of the
'tips' on the races. These men, it is said, have
operated successfully for a year, few of their vic-
tims making complaint on account of the unenvi-
able publicity the affair would thus attain. This
gang, too, has headquarters in a West Madison
street block within a few doors of the Fern store.
This neighborhood is included in the Warren
avenue police district. None of the officers at
Chicago, Satan's Sanctum. 115
this station, or any of the Central station detect-
ives famiHar with the case, beHeves that the
'jockeys' have anything to do with the 'holdups'
and robberies of flats, and laugh at the idea ad-
vanced by the author of the letter to The J — ."
The names and addresses of these victims are
printed in full in the newspaper referred to, but for
obvious reasons they are not used in reproducing the
article.
Immediately following the publication of this
startling list of crimes, a grand jury submitted to the
court the following report. The reader can harmo-
nize, as best he may, this official statement, with that
of a lighthearted and self satisfied Mayor who controls,
or does not control, as one's thought may elect, the
Chicago police force.
"In closing our work the members of the jury de-
sire to report to your honor some slight comment on
the various matters which have been brought to our
attention during our session, and to submit for recom-
mendation to the proper authorities suggestions that
may check the amount of crime which has been brought
to our notice.
ii6 Chicago, Satan's Sanctum.
"Our city seems to be the asylum of habitual crim-
inals of all classes, who have terrorized the people to an
alarming degree. We would particularly call attention
to several instances within our knowledge where per-
sons have been found dead, investigation made by the
proper authorities, verdicts rendered according to the
evidence with recommendations by the coroner's jury
that the guilty be brought to justice. These deeds
wherein the perpetrators in several instances have
not been detected are largely due to the fact that this
city is made an asylum for habitual criminals, and we
strongly recommend that every measure be taken to
close the gates of the city to such people.
"Were the statute of the state regarding the arrest
of vagabonds more strictly enforced by the proper
authorities the number of habitual criminals at large
could be largely reduced and Chicago made a less at-
tractive place of residence for this class. The law it-
self is broad and ample in its provisions. Places under
the guise of saloons, duly licensed, are merely rendez-
vous for thieves, murderers and prostitutes, and not-
withstanding the fact that such vile places are well
known to the authorities they are permitted to continue
Chicago,, Satan's Sanctum. 117
without molestation. The defilement of our youths of
both sexes should receive the severest penalty of the
law. It is our duty to protect and guard the manhood
and womanhood of the young.
"The continued violation of the ordinance fixing
the closing hours of saloons is a great factor in the
number of crimes committed in the city, and we ear-
nestly recommend a strict enforcement of the ordi-
nance."
Apparently, a few of these criminal gentry regard
Chicago as a safe field for their labors !
Boys in their teens, men and women, both black
and white, the latter of the strong armed class, com-
prise this coterie of criminals. The strong armed
women, generally negresses, have the developed mus-
cles of the pugilist and the daring of the pirate. They
entice the stranger into dark passage ways, that inno-
cent stranger, so unfamiliar, but so willing to be made
familiar with the wickedness of a great city, who seeks
out its most disreputable quarters and scours its dark-
est byways, to report to his mates, on his return to
his country home, the salacious things that he has
heard of, and a few of which he witnessed. In these
ii8 Chicago, Satan's Sanctum.
dark and dangerous ways the strong armed women
garrote and rob their victims, or they entice the inno-
cent, but lustful, stranger to their rooms, and there,
through the panel game, or by sheer strength or drug-
ged potations, appropriate the innocent stranger's val-
uables. Mortified and humiliated, the stranger usually
has nothing to say to the police of the affair. Then
the emboldened strong armed women go upon the
street in couples, and rob in the most approved meth-
ods of the highwayman. Alone, one of these notorious
characters is said to have pilfered to the extent of
$60,000. She was, and is, a terror to the police force.
Released from the penitentiary not long ago, she is
now undergoing trial for a fresh offense. Approach-
ing a commercial traveler from behind, she is charged
with having nearly strangled him, and then robbed
him of his money and jewelry.
"Only one man ever got the best of E. F.," said
detective Sergeant C. R. W., of Harrison street sta-
tion, who had arrested E. F. frequently.
"Once she held up a cowboy and took $150 from
him. He came up to the station hotfoot to report the
robbery. We were busy and a little slow in sending
Chicago, Satan's Sanctum. 119
out after E., whereupon the cowboy allowed he'd start
out after her on his own hook. He met her down by
the Polk street depot, and the moment he spotted her
he walked right up close to her and covered her with
two six-shooters.
"You've got $150 of my money, now shell out nig-
ger," he said.
"Go and get a warrant and have me arrested then,"
replied the big colored woman, who wanted time to
plant the coin.
"These are good enough warrants for me," re-
turned the cowboy significantly, as he poked the re-
volvers a trifle closer to her face. "Now, I'm going to
count twenty, and if I don't see my money coming
back before I reach twenty, I'll go with both guns."
"When he reached eighteen, E. weakened. She
drew out a wad and held it out toward him. But the
cowboy was wise and would not touch the roll till she
had walked to the nearest lamplight under the escort
of his two guns and counted out the $150. Then he
let her go and came back to the station and treated."
Conductors of street cars are often the victims of
the hold up men. Here in Chicago they invented the
I20 Chicago, Satan's Sanctum.
plan of placing the saloonkeeper in the ice chest, while
the looting of the place went on. In another instance
a baker was imprisoned in a hot oven. Women in
their homes are thrust into closets, gagged and bound,
while their houses are ransacked and their property
stolen.
The want of an energetic police is the cause of the
prevalence of such abominable offenses as hair clip-
ping, or the severing from the heads of young girls
upon the public streets their braids of hair. One of
these perverts was arrested and excused himself upon
the ground that it was a mania with him, and that the
temptation to cut off the braids of hair from every
young girl he met, was almost irresistible. If de-
tectives, instead of lounging around their daily haunts
for drinking purposes, loafing in cigar stores, and
playing the pool rooms, were mingling with the crowds
upon the streets, offenses of this character would be
nearly impossible, although this particular weakness
seems to lead its impulsive perpetrators to less crowd-
ed thoroughfares, and selects the hours of going to and
returning from school, as the most favorable parts of
the day for its gratification. It may be prompted by
Chicago, Satan's Sanctum. 121
a morbid desire, but it is none the less a serious of-
fense, which, as yet, the criminal law has not defined,
and has therefore not provided a proper penalty for its
punishment. No evidence, so far as it is known, has
yet been adduced to show that the braids of hair are
ever sold to dealers in that article, such as wig manu-
facturers, etc. If such evidence should be forthcoming,
the ingenuity of the average criminal for the discovery
of new methods of despoliation will receive additional
confirmation.
One peculiar method of protection to the criminal
classes is in vogue. A new thief arrives in the city ;
his arrival is noticed by a detective and the fact re-
ported to headquarters. The thief is invited to visit
the Chief. Upon his appearance, permission is given
him to remain, provided he "does not work his game"
within the city. He can plunder all the neighboring
towns he may select, but the price of his remaining in
security in Chicago is, that he shall be good and gentle-
manly to its people. The "Safe Blowers' Union" has
its home in Chicago, from which it radiates, as the
spokes of a wheel, to the circumference of its limit of
operations. It is a trust ; a protective association. It
122 ,Chicago, Satan's Sanctum.
pays for the privilegfe. It attacks the country bank,
blows it, in the silence of the night, to piefces with
dynamite if necessary, and murders if interfered with.
It returns with its loot to the city, makes its dividends
among its membership, police included, and awaits the
pressing necessity for a renewal of its suburban raids.
It is under the king's mighty shield, the king of the
criminals, over whom he reigns with leniency, and
whose gifts he accepts with condescension.
The fakes of a great city are beyond enumeration.
There are fake information bureaus, fake advisory
brokers, fake safe systems of speculation, fake music
teachers, fake medical colleges, fake law schools, fake
lawyers, fake "Old Charters for Sale," fake corpora-
tions, fake relief and aid societies, fake preachers and
fake detective agencies. The latter, and the street
fakers, are friendly with the police. So are the fruit
vendors, and the all night lunch counters on wheels.
The latter stand where the officers say they shall stand,
and the location once found, the officers at once be-
come landlords.
As to private detective agencies, without reference
to agencies of an established local and national reputa-
Chicago, Satan's Sanctum. 123
tion, they are principally constituted of thieves, pick-
pockets, blackmailers, and porch climbers.
In the trial of a case before the Criminal Court of
Cook County, a few months ago, a witness acquainted
with their inside history, swore that there were men
connected with these fake organizations who would
commit murder for $50. They enter into conspiracies
to ruin the private character of men and women in
divorce cases, and for blackmailing purposes. Three
of these hounds were lately convicted of conspiracy in
less than one hour, by a jury in the same court. These
three worthies comprised the entire agency. Their
punishment was fixed at imprisonment in the peniten-
tiary. They were employed in getting revenge on a
man, who was supposed, by their employer, to have
been the cause of his discharge from his commercial
position. In getting this revenge they fell upon their
shadow, pummelled him with great severity, and badly
injured him. So grievous was the offense, that the
State's Attorney demand no less a punishment than
the jury awarded.
They manufacture testimony in divorce proceed-
ings, at the suggestion and upon the request of the
124 .Chicago, Satan's Sanctum.
parties willing and desirous of cutting the matrimonial
tie ; or, upon the instigation of one of the parties, they
will endeavor to entrap and compromise the other.
They revel in the destruction of the character of a
good woman, as the vulture revels in the foulness of
a carrion. The man of wealth must be on his guard
against their attacks, for they would as lief magnify
his peccadillos into felonious crimes and attempt his
plunder by blackmail, as they would accept the earn-
ings of the Mistresses Overdone, the exhausted bawds,
whose pimps they are.
Theirs is only another but a more vicious form of
depravity than that practiced by the panel house
keepers, who send their single workers upon the streets
to entice men to their abodes, where they are met by
the expert workers of the game. While thus entrapped,
and indulging in the sensuality which aids so readily
in his allurement, the adroit "creeper" enters the room
through a movable panel, or by some other prear-
ranged method of ingress, and takes the watch, the
coin, or "any other old thing" of value, found about
the removed and scattered clothing of the greenhorn.
The police are as well acquainted with these "single
Chicago, Satan's Sanctum. 125
workers" as they are with the street walkers. They
know their haunts, and their fields of labor. The
hotels, and places where crowds are gathered in the
early evening, attract the "single workers" as the most
promising ground for a successful capture.
"Badger games" are not infrequently played in
Chicago. Such as are successful are generally kept
from the police records, through the preference of the
blackmailed subjects to say nothing about them, in
dread of their personal exposure. A man, generally
one of means and standing, is marked for conquest.
The first class hotel is the scene of operations of
the female in the case. Fashionably dressed, hand-
some, with jewels for adornment, she strikes up a
flirtation with the selected person. Fool like, as most
men are in the case of handsome and well gowned
women, he responds to the invitation, an acquaintance
is formed and an assignation made. The place is of
the woman's selection and known of course to her
paramour, styled her husband. The room is entered,
compromising situations reached, when, suddenly, the
indignant husband appears, the woman screams in
terror, and a storm rages. It is calmed by the payment
126 Chicago, Satan's Sanctum.
of the price demanded for concealment, and the "suck-
er" escapes with a load removed from both his pocket-
book and his mind.
A noted instance of this kind happened to a
wealthy and prominent merchant, whose indiscretions
in the acceptance of inducements for sexual enjoyment
held out to him by a stylish and beautiful woman, and
his blindness in not observing his surroundings, en-
abled the fake husband to photograph him in flagrante
delicto. Under threats to distribute the pictures it is
reported he paid $10,000 for them and the negative.
This is a fact easily susceptible of proof. One at least
of these proofs did not accompany the package he re-
ceived, which was supposed to contain all of the pic-
tures.
Photographing from the nude is not the fad
of the harlot alone. Women infatuated with their
shapes begin with the exposure of a beautiful foot, arm
or well rounded bust, then a leg, etc., etc., until they
stand before the camera almost in puris naturalibns.
These pictures are taken for pure self admiration, the
love of self study and comparison with the forms of
celebrated actresses, or the paintings of the masters,
Chicago, Satan*s Sanctum. 127
famous in art for their conceptions of the perfect wo-
man. They differ from those obscene pictures de-
signed for sale, for which purpose the depraved couple
are photographed in situations, attitudes and condi-
tions, natural and unnatural, which appeal to the
grossest instincts in man, and shock, also, the moral
sense of every one not in himself a sexual pervert.
The latter are eagerly sought after, are quite sal-
able, and are carried about the persons of fast young
men about town, with intent, upon opportunity, to in-
fluence the passions of women. They are the solace
of the- aged sport, who, having lost all recollection of
the ordinary affairs of his youth, still fondly retains
the memory of the amours of his younger days, and of
the orgies of his middle age. Then recalling with
sadness the first appearance of the lamentable indica-
tions of his decline, he contentedly yields the passing
of his power — "sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans
everything."
These are the men, who, if they had lived in the
early days of the Roman Empire at or about the date
of the Floralian games, would have been the principal
patrons, or, if at the time of the prevalence of the Bac-
128 Chicago, Satan's Sanctum.
chanalian mysteries, the prominent members, of soci-
eties organized for the purpose of gratifying unnatural
desires ; or if they had been Romans in the dedining
days of that empire would have figured as the most
frantic and most lustful of the worshippers of Priapus.
The methods of the vendors of obscene literature
are innumerable, and all are formed along the lines of
extreme caution and cunning. They are keen judges
of human nature, quick to detect the inquisitive
stranger, or the sporting gent of the town, and adroit
in introducing their filthy stock. The purchaser is
more than liable to be swindled in the deal, as the fakir
requires immediate concealment of the purchase, which,
when examined by the vendee in the quiet of his own
room often turns out to be a harmless work resembling
only in the binding the supposed purchase.
The confidence men, who invite the incoming vis-
itor to view the scene of the great explosion on the
lake front, and suggest trips to other places where
startling events have not occurred, discover, by skillful
questioning, the weaknesses of their dupe. They arouse
his innate, but dormant, wish to take a chance at some
game that seems to him certain of a rich return. He
Chicago, Satan's Sanctum, 129
is easily induced to play and allowed to win a small
stake, merely to excite greater interest and establish
the conviction that he can "beat the game." Naturally
he plunges ahead, until the moment comes, set by
his trappers, when he is cheated, robbed and goes
"flat broke." The dupe may, or may not, report his
loss to the police. If he does, and it happens to
be one of consequence, detectives may be detailed
to search for the swindlers ; but if the loss is
small in amount, however important to the loser,
the dupe is more likely to be laughed at than
aided by the officers of the law.
To this class belong cabmen who rob drunken
men, and "divvy" with the police ; commission
houses, which secure consignments of goods for
sale by false representations ; grocery grafters, who
solicit throughout the country orders for groceries,
claiming to represent wholesale houses, ship an
inferior grade and collect C. O. D. at the prices
charged for the superior grade; Board of Trade
sharks, who "welch" their clients' money by charg-
ing up fictitious losses, when the figures will not
appear to He ; the false claimants for personal in-
juries alleged to have been caused through the
130 Chicago, Satan's Sanctum.
negligence of wealthy corporations, such as street
car lines, manufacturing companies and rolling
mills, or by the city, from defective sidewalks, un-
guarded street excavations, etc., etc. ; bakers who
sell unlabeled and underweight bread; the gold
brick and gold filings sharper; the electric and
mining stock swindler, and the advertiser seeking
a governess to accompany himself and family
abroad. These men have "irresistible tendencies"
to work their several games. They cannot help
it, they say. Like kleptomaniacs, or "Jack the
Hair Clipper," they are impelled by nature to the
commission of their crimes. In their own judg-
ment they ought not to be punished, because they
are the victims of defective brains. But they are
just as cunning as the hair clipper, just as con-
scious that they are law breakers as he was when
he mailed to the Chief of Police in his own words
the following note, enclosing some of the braids
of hair he had clipped from the head of a young
girl, viz:
"A clue for J. K.'s cheap skates. Will send
more when I get cheap stuff like this.
Jack."
Chicago, Satan's Sanctum. 131
Pf this same class are men who conduct "dip-
loma mills" and make doctors, especially in one day.
They sell their parchments as freely as a saloon-
keeper does his beer, and then claim that because
a college confers distinctive degrees upon men of
prominence, without a course of study and exam-
ination, they are justified in launching doctors by
the score upon unsuspecting communities, "with-
out study and examination," to discredit the med-
ical profession, and send men, women and children
to premature graves. Like McTeague, who ac-
quired his knowledge of dentistry from the seven
volumes of "Allen's Practical Dentist," they obtain
their knowledge of diseases from quack publica-
tions, newspapers and magazine articles. They
use nothing but "the purest of the earth's produc-
tions in their treatment, and no minerals or pois-
onous materials of any kind are ever permitted to
enter your system." Their prices range from
"one dollar up." "A positive guarantee is given
in every case treated, so you have nothing to risk
in any way. Your money back on demand if not
satisfied." They can wash kidneys so clean, that
132 ^Chicago, Satan's Sanctum.
if you are a woman and have not extended your
arms in years, after taking the first box of kidney
pills you "can raise them, and twist your hair,"
and after the second, "dress yourself, perform your
household duties," and "life will again take on a bright
hue" for you. Bald heads respond to the "re-
markable effects" of their discoveries, with joyful
alacrity. Gray hair goes into hiding, and "thick
and lustrous eyebrows and eye lashes" blossom
forth on one application, as lilac bushes do in the
spring time at the first touch of the warmth of
the sun's rays. Their remedies are "no longer
experiments, they are medical certainties." They
"create solid flesh, muscles and strength, clear the
brain, and make the blood pure and rich." For hu-
manity's sake, distinguished Mayors, ex-Mayors, city
treasurers, scholars, soldiers, ex-state senators and sen-
ators, representatives, lawyers and judges, lend their
beaming countenances, when fully restored to health,
for the uses of these quacks, until the daily press
has become a portrait gallery of rebuilt and re-
vitalized men, who, if disease had the clutch upon
them they so felicitously describe — in the stere-
Chicago, Satan's Sanctum. 133
otyped words of the quack — ought to have been
dead, buried and mourned long ago. These dis-
tinguished men in American Hfe, are merely selling
their faces for promotion purposes, much as the
titled Englishman sells his title.
Of all the sources of police graft, in addition
to pool rooms and policy shops, gambling is the
most prolific. There are in Chicago over 7,000
saloons and nearly 2,000 cigar stores. The num-
ber of gambling houses proper is unknown, but
the list swells into the hundreds. The saloon and
cigar stores have as a general rule a gambling
annex. Gambling houses proper, as known some
years ago, have no longer the permanency they
then had. Roulette and faro, especially, are sleep-
ing, and awaken only at infrequent intervals. The
negro game of craps, and the national game of
poker, particularly stud poker, have become the
substitutes for the wheel and the lay out. In two-
thirds of the saloons and cigar stores poker and
stud poker are played, and in many of the saloons,
especially the all night variety, the crap table is
part of the necessary equipment. It is estimated
134 Chicago, Satan's Sanctum.
that poker games are in progress in over eight
thousand of the saloons, cigar stores, barber shops
and bakeries, every night, while gambling houses
with the roulette and faro barred, add over one
thousand to the number. Craps are shot even at
the doors of some of the theaters. All this is known
to the police, tolerated by the police, and taxed
by the police. Take the average cigar store for
illustration. In the rear are rooms neatly fitted
up and supplied with three or more poker tables.
The rake off to the house goes on just as in the
regularly equipped gambling house. The games
are played by men of all classes in life below the
society men and men of wealth, who get their
amusement at the club. The clubs all forbid poker,
but the tabooing order is "more honored in its
breach than its observance." In the cigar stores
and saloons, workingmen, artisans, clerks, and the
loafing skin gambler, participate in the game. The
latter is quickly spotted, and placed under the ban.
The proprietor requires the games to be square,
in so far as he can control them. The losses of
the cigar store players are more severe upon them
Chicago, Satan's Sanctum. 135
than are those of the gamblers who play for
higher stakes. The wages of the workingman,
clerks and artisans are their only gambling capital.
They have no bank accounts to draw upon. The
home suffers; wife and children are the indirect
victims. Theirs is a cash game. When wages
are exhausted, the unearned wage is mortgaged to
the loan "sharks." These greedy and heartless
wretches lure the clerk earning a fair salary to
borrow from them at reasonable rates, and upon a
"strictly confidential" basis. The employer is not
to know of the transaction. The clerk is soon in
the shark's strong jaws. He must pay what is de-
manded, or the employer, the rules of whose es-
tablishment forbid dealings with the "shark," will
be made aware of the violation of his rules, and
the clerk's embarrassment commences. Rather than
risk discharge from his position, and to escape
from the "shark" jaws, the frightened clerk pays
in monthly installments double the amount of his
loan, plus a sum for a fee to an attorney who
was never retained. All this is so much blood
money, flowing from the wounds made by the
"shark's" sharp teeth.
136 Chicago, Satan's Sanctum.
The minor is not prevented in the cigar store
joints from gaming any more than he is prevented
from drinking at the saloon bar. Nightly, over this
vast city, young men are succumbing to the ter-
rible fascination of gaming. Nightly, temptations,
almost irresistible, are preying upon their minds.
The honesty of their intentions is gradually under-
mined, and almost before they awaken to a reali-
zation of the truth, they have committed some
theft and commenced a downward career. Men
who filled high positions of trust and earned large
salaries are today inmates of the state penitentiary,
led away by the fascination and excitement of the
gaming table. The evils of gambling, the intensity
of the love of the average man for indulgence in
its exhilaration, the wide spread use of it in the
home, the club, the stag parties, and so on down
to the lowest joints in the slums, have been the
themes of every writer who attempts to depict the
daily life of great cities.
It exists in the form of prizes in progressive
euchre parties, in social gatherings, in the raffles
of the church fairs, the voting for the most pop-
Chicago, Satan's Sanctum. 137
ular man or woman, as city or county stenographer,
popular firemen or policemen ; in guessing contests
in the solution of puzzles; or wherever the ele-
ment of chance enters into the affairs of life,
from which amusement is sought to be drawn.
Whether it is a wheat deal on the board of trade
in which millions are involved, or the cast of the
dice by newsboys and boot blacks in the alleys
and upon the sidewalks of the city, the controlling
passion is there — the passion for gain at the
whim of chance. Judgment may prompt the wheat
deal, but unless judgment promises large profits
the incentive to engage in the manipulation of the
markets is absent. The possible toil and mental
worry is overlooked in the hope of great gain
without correspondingly prolonged labor. Millions fly
away in great gambling speculations as easily and
as swiftly as the penny of the newsboy takes its
flight from one to the other of the inveterate little
gamblers, to be found among these sharp witted
waifs of the street. It goes on in billiard halls,
where "hap hazard" is openly played; at saloon
bars where the loser at dice "pays for the drinks."
138 Chicago, Satan's Sanctum,
It is to be seen in beer halls, summer gardens,
among well dressed people who carry the dice with
them, of the usual size, or smaller, with fancy box-
guard, and who "shake" for the drinks and din-
ners, not so much as a matter of gambling, as
for the zest it gives to their party, or their outing.
It controls political picnics in the fakers' attractions
that follow them, and in the prizes offered to the
winner, of boys' and girls', women and fat men's,
races, or for which artistic cake walkers and rag-
time dancers compete. Civil and criminal trials are
even chosen as events upon which to place a wager.
The frequency of elections, the daily horse racing
contests throughout the world, base ball games in
season, prize fights between professionals, club ath-
letic contests, policy shops with their daily draw-
ings, and lotteries, all arouse the cupidity of the
seeker after quick gains without physical labor.
"Bet you five" settles many a mathematical, histori-
cal, political or economic proposition, contrary to
the truth.
Races, accompanied by the usual retinue of
book makers, are conducted by a wealthy club, many
Chicago, Satan's Sanctum. 139
of whose members are leaders in civic bodies formed
for the betterment of local government, and conse-
quently for the suppression of vice. Grand juries
report month after month their inability to obtain
the co-operation of the police in gathering evidence
against gamblers and landlords whereon to found
indictments. Each grand jury when empanelled
hears from the bench the monotonous song "Gentle-
men, bucket shops exist, investigate them," to-
gether with such musical accompaniment, as may
be added by the judge, in the way of moralizing
upon their wickedness.
Fashionable women have their down town clubs.
There they meet, smoke cigarettes, take their drinks
from the sideboard "just like men," gamble for
excitement, lose their pin-money and diamonds
with the abandon of a virgin, "willing to be rid
of her name."
The vice and fascination of gambhng are so
well known and understood by great merchants
that they employ a corps of detectives to keep
watch over their confidential employes, whose
movements are the subject matter of daily reports
I40 Chicago, Satan's Sanctum.
to their employers. The bond companies, which
insure the honesty of clerks and managers entrusted
with the handling of money, receive from their
spotters the earliest reports of the actions of em-
ployes indicative of living beyond the yearly sal-
ary paid them by the houses with which they are
connected.
Gambling, although condemned by all moralists
as a degrading vice, is recognized by some as aid-
ing the development of, certain qualities of im-
measurable service in the intensity of the struggle
for business existence prevailing in the aggressive
commercialism of this age. Lecky asserts : "Even
the gambling table fosters among its more skill-
ful votaries a kind of moral nerve, a capacity for
bearing losses with calmness, and controlling the
force of the desires, which is scarcely exhibited in
equal perfection in any other sphere." Whatever
may be the meaning of the phrase "controlling
the force of the desires," it is certain that among
the young men of today, in all classes of society,
the desires for intoxicants and sensuality are past
control when associated with gambling. In its most
Chicago, Satan's Sanctum. 141
seductive forms its principal aids are the gilded
saloon, and the harlot's enslaving smile. The neces-
sity for means with which to gratify aroused
passion in both respects, comes through contact
with the gaming table; hence, the houses of ill
repute, assignation houses and the innocent looking
"Hotel" nestling in the middle of the down town
business blocks, are the direct allies of the gambling
hells in the development of crime — in adding to,
rather than in "controlling" the force of the de-
sires. "Sensuality," said a distinguished writer,
"is the vice of young men and of old nations."
Another, tracing the effects of gaming on human
passions, wisely observes, "the habit of gambling
is very often allied with, and is even an incentive
to, the practice of other vices, whose darkness is
beyond dispute. The ordinary aspect of a return
from a race meeting will fully confirm this. There
we find that drunkenness, licentiousness and gamb-
ling go hand in hand, a well assorted trio whose
ministry to separate passions is not inconsistent
but consistent with mutual incitement and co-
operation in the destruction of the honor and pur-
ity and strength of men."
142 Chicago, Satan's Sanctum.
While gambling is not now conducted "openly,"
a word which has reference only to the mainte-
nance of down town establishments in which faro
and roulette were formerly played, it is conducted
under police protection all over this city in forms
more inviting, more disastrous to the embryotic
gamblers who patronize it, than if the large estab-
lishments were in full operation as of yore. The
latter could not invite the younger class of gamb-
lers to enter the play, because of their lack of
capital; the smaller, widely scattered, and police
guarded, cigar store and saloon games, accept
smaller sums of money, parts of a dollar, for a
stack of poker chips, from the anxious entrant to
the game. Prior to the last election a leading
evening newspaper accused the city executive with
farming out the slum district to two aldermen of
unsavory reputation, with leave to them to extort
money from gaming houses, high and low, within
its limits, for their personal benefit, in consideration
of their opposing, in the council, the passage of
ordinances relating to the extension of street car
privileges. Its condemnation of this bargain was
Chicago, Satan's Sanctum. 143
severe, and yet, later on, it was the most persistent
of that executive's supporters for re-election.
The coon gamblers, thieves, thugs and pimps
were all on the staffs of these aldermen. They
followed these worthies into the campaign, under
the leadership of the eminently respectable news-
paper referred to. Inspired by such leadership
"Spreader," "Sawed Off," "The Cuckoo," "Book
Agent," "Deacon," "Grab All," "Duck," "Shoe-
string," "Scalper," "Humpty," "Hungry Sid,"
"Seedy," "Talky," "Whiskers," "Noisy," "Fig,"
"Old Hoss," "Slick," "Ruby," "Sunday School,"
and "Mushmouth," captains in the corps of sports
felt themselves respectable, led their followers from
the barrel and lodging houses with a rush to the
polls, and achieved a startling victory. Over all
this horrible saturnalia of vice, the colors of the
police force float in token of protection. The brave
men of that force, morally degraded by the obedi-
ence they are compelled to yield to unworthy supe-
riors want merely the opportunity to perform their
full duty, not only as patrolmen but as patriotic
American citizens. The time when they will be
144 Chicago, Satan's Sanctum.
permitted to do so seems far distant, unless an
aroused public opinion shall speedily pronounce
against the further continuation of a policy of
protection to crime and debauchery supported by
the men chosen to war unceasingly with both.
The dens of the sexual pervert of the male sex,
found in the basements of buildings in the
most crowded, but least respectable parts of cer-
tain streets, with immoral theaters, cheap muse-
ums, opium joints and vile concert saloons sur-
rounding them, are the blackest holes of iniquity
that ever existed in any country since the dawn
of history. A phrase was recently coined in New
York which conveys — in the absence of the pos-
sibility of describing them in decent language — the
meaning of the brute practices indulged in these
damnable resorts, and the terrible consequences to
humanity as a result of unnatural habits — "Paresis
Halls."
No form of this indulgence described by writers
on the history of morals, no species of sodomy
the debased minds of these devils can devise, is
missing from the programme of their diabolical
Chicago, Satan's Sanctum. 145
orgies. In divine history we read of the abomina-
tions of the strange women of Israel, with their
male companions, in their worship of Moloch, Bel-
phegor and Baal, and of the death penalties pro-
nounced by Aloses against the participants in them.
To suppress the brutish immorality, and prevent
the spread of disease arising from it, the Jewish
law giver put to death all his Midianite female
captives except the virgins. Profane history tells
of the infamies of the Baylonian banquets, of the
incestuous and "promiscuous combats of sensuality"
of the Lydians and the Persians ; of the Athenian
Auletrides, or female flute players, who danced
and furnished music at the banquets of the nobil-
ity and wallowed in the filth of every sensual in-
decency, and of the polluted condition of Roman
life, prior to, and as the Christian era da\Vned, but
in all the untranslatable literature of eroticism no
description of the debaucheries of the ancients, if
freely interpreted into English from the dead lan-
guages in which they are preserved, could depict
the nastiness these yahoos are reported as having
introduced into our midst, and rendered more hate-
146 Chicago, Satan's Sanctum.
ful and disgusting by the squalor of their under-
ground abodes. The young are lured by them,
ruined in health and seared in conscience. The very
slang of the streets is surcharged with expressions,
derived from, and directly traceable to, the names
of these unmentionable acts of lechery.
Not content with the private and crafty pur-
suit of their calling, they must flaunt it in the
faces of the public and under the very eyes of the
police, in a series of annual balls held by the
"fruits" and the '"cabmen," advertised by placards
extensively all over the city. At these disreputable
gatherings the pervert of the male persuasion dis-
plays his habits by aping everything feminine. In
speech, walk, dress and adornment they are to all
appearances women. The modern mysteries of the
toilet, used to build up and round out the female
figure, are applied in the make-up of the male
pervert. Viewed from the galleries, it is impos-
sible to distinguish them from the sex they are
imitating. Theirs is no maid-marian costume ; it
is strictly in the line of the prevailing styles
among fashionable women, from female hair to
Chicago, Satan's Sanctum. 147
pinched feet. The convenient bar suppHes the
liquid excitement, and when the women a'rrivals
from the bagnios swarm into the hall, led in many
instances by the landlady, white or black, and the
streets and saloons have contributed their quotas,
the dance begins and holds on until the morning
hours approach. The acts are those mainly sug-
gestive of indecency. Nothing, except the gross
language and easy familiarity in deportment, coupled
with the assumed falsetto voice and effeminate
manners of the pervert, would reveal to the unin-
formed observer what a seething mass of human
corruption he is witnessing. As the "encyclopedia
of the art of making up" puts it, "the exposed
parts of the human anatomy" usually displayed in
fashionable society are counterfeited so perfectly, the
wigs are selected and arranged with such nicety,
the eyebrows and lashes so dexterously treated, and
the features so artistically touched with cosmetics,
as to make it very difficult, at first glance, to dis-
tinguish between the impostor and the real wom-
an. The big hands and tawdry dresses, the large
though pinched feet and the burly ankle, betray
the sex of the imitating pervert.
148 Chicago, Satan's Sanctum.
No reason, except that the pohce are paid for
non-interference with these vice pitted revels, can
be given for their toleration. The city's officials
are either in collusion with their projectors, they
are incompetent, or are the willing tools of these
stinking body scavengers. These beasts look with
disdain upon the votaries of natural pleasures,
and have an insane pride in their hopeless deg-
radation.
The opium joints are closely related sources
of iniquity to the pervert's haunts. Under one
of the worst of the all night saloons, conducted
by a politician of the first ward, who belongs to the
party of the Bath House and Hinky Dink, and who
"touched" the Hon. Richard Croker of New York
for a small loan, the largest of these execrable
cellars is protected. It is but a step from the wine
rooms of the saloon to the solace of the pipe. The
depraved of both sexes in those moments when
despair seizes them, when some recollection of
childhood, or of home, arouses in them the dor-
mant good still remaining in their hearts, when,
as they look into the future, they can discern no
1
Chicago, Satan's Sanctum. 149
ray of hope, but are appalled at the frightful end
which must be theirs, shut out the horrors of their
situation in life by seeking a paradise built upon
"the baseless fabric of a vision." In this joint,
since reference to it was written, a man died from
the effects of smoking the pipe. The woman who
accompanied him, the bartender and the keeper of
the joint were placed under arrest. The police
expressed amazement at the revelation of the ex-
istence of the joint, as did the proprietor of the
saloon. It was, of course, closed, and a number
of other like resorts were then raided. Press com-
ments upon this death appeared as follows:
"In spite of the fact that there are plenty of
laws against them, opium dens and objectionable
grogshops are among the hardest things in the
world to exterminate. The only reasonable ex-
planation for this is that their proprietors must
have influence with officers who are employed by
the people to execute the laws. 'The police close
these places,' said an officer despairingly, referring
to dens like that in which the man Adams died
Sunday night, 'but they spring up again in a day.'
150 Chicago, Satan's Sanctum.
"The police seem to be downcast over it. Yet
the causes of the 'springing up' are as plain as
the nose on one's face, and the means of removing
them as evident as one's hand.
"Access to the den in which Adams died was
had through the delectable O. saloon, operated by
S. V. P., and the den itself was rented by V. P.
The levee statesman says he had no idea his base-
ment was used for an opium den. He thought the
procession of drunken and dazed men and women
who tottered through his saloon and went down
his basement stairs all night were going for their
laundry.
"V. P.'s statement is entitled to as much consid-
eration as the guileless protestations of the gentle-
man who is caught with the chicken under his coat.
V. P. is responsible for the opium den and as
soon as the law lays a hand, in earnest, on the
landlord the opium dens will cease 'springing up.'
"The police knew that an opium den was run-
ning in V. P.'s basement. They had been amply
warned of it. If they had raided the place a few
times and sent the proprietor and inmates to the
bridewell it would have stayed closed.
Chicago, Satan's Sanctum. 151
"There is a little virtue in sticking to one's na-
tive vices. Western races come honestly by drunk-
enness and gambling. But why tolerate the de-
liberate importation and cultivation of this strange
oriental bestiality? This ingrafted vice must make
its own soil. Why should the police treat it so
leniently? A hundred-dollar fine for every per-
son found in an opium joint and a modicum of
police activity, with the demanding of a strict ac-
count from the guilty landlord, will quickly put
a damper on the opium dens. Every month that
they are tolerated they get a firmer root."
These resorts are patronized by others than the
fallen women and the criminal classes. Like slum-
ming, it is a fad ''to hit the pipe just once" by
some adventure seeking people in other walks of
life. The habit of opium smoking is easily ac-
quired, and, when acquired, the smoker becomes
a slave to its use. There are between two and
three hundred of these smoking rooms in Chi-
cago. The number of persons addicted to smok-
ing opium cannot be stated with accuracy. Esti-
mates vary from ten to twenty thousand, the num-
152
Chicago, Satan's Sanctum.
ber probably lies between these two estimates. In
the Chinese quarters the penetrating odor of opium
smoke is plainly perceptible and is thrown off from
the garments of passing Chinamen, or is detected
as one enters a restaurant or laundry presided
over by the oriental. The "dope" soon affects the
complexion, and the features wear a dejected ap-
pearance. The movements of the victims are
listless, almost lifeless. In the saloon referred to,
a constant procession of men and women, old and
young, come and go up and down the stairway to
the region below. It is not guarded with any
degree of care, because it is protected from the
law's aggression, except occasionally, when by way
of diversion it is pulled. Then its patrons get a
quiet tip to keep away, consequently few occu-
pants are found. The old pipes and a small quan-
tity of the dope are graciously permitted to be
borne away in triumph by the officers. New sup-
plies are provided, and the baleful business resumes
its accustomed routine.
CHAPTER V.
Common Council — Boodlers — Bribers — Council of
1899 — Powers of — Misuse of — Price of Votes —
Passage of Boodle Ordinances — Public Works
Department and Bureaus — Illegal Contracts
— Street Repairing, Etc. — Civil Service Com-
mission — History of — Present Board Tools of
Mayor — Examination by — Examples of — At-
tacks Upon Law — Special Assessments — As-
phalt Ring — Fire Department — County Gov-
ernment — Insane Asylum — Sale of "Cadav-
ers'' — Contracts — Sheriff's Office — Jury
Bribers — Judges — Revenue Law — Tax Dodgers
— Town Boards — Coroner's Office — Press
Trust — Civic Societies — Berry Committee's
Report — Baxter Committee — Opening Testi-
mony — Conclusion.
For a generation the Common Council of Chi-
cago has been governed by a majority of "boodlers."
Aldermen have been, in that period, fairly repre-
sentative of the wards by which they were elected.
The various nationalities, clustered together in such
a manner as to give rise to the naming of a ward
according to the nativity of its inhabitants,, such
154 Chicago, Satan's Sanctum.
as Polish, Swedish, Bohemian, German, Irish, etc.,
have selected as their representatives in the Coun-
cil, men who, as a rule, in private life were honest.
Their selection was usually upon strictly party
grounds. The "independent" voter, in municipal
elections, is a growth of quite recent years. The
class appears to be increasing with great rapidity
and to be finding a means of concentrating its
strength at the polls.
As honest as an alderman may be when he first
takes his seat, he soon finds himself surrounded
by influences which appear to exert a fascinating
power over him. He must elect to be for or
against the gang. Prior to the allowance of a
yearly salary the temptation to join the gang was
heightened by the promising returns, in a pecu-
niary way, which the gang could almost guarantee
the incoming member. An alderman "once pre-
possessed is half seduced" and, since it is almost
axiomatic that the total seduction of a prepos-
sessed alderman is a mere matter of time and op-
portunity, the fall always comes when some high
spirited, progressive, and perhaps, God-professing
Chicago, Satan's Sanctum. 155
citizen, offers from his purse a goodly compensa-
tion to the gang for the grant of some public
privilege. Thus the pubHc privilege is seized upon
by the aldermanic gang as a private privilege
which it disposes of to the broad-clothed briber at
a price satisfactory to its members. The bribers
are found in that sanctified element of the com-
munity which attends church under the pretext of
fearing and worshipping God.
"But yet, O Lord ! confess I must,
At times I'm fash'd wi' fleshly lust ;
An' sometimes, too, wi' wordly trust
Vile self gets in !
But thou rememb'rest we are dust,
Defil'd in sin,"
On secular days, its leaders, the accomplished, in
thieves' parlance, the "slick" bribers, whisper their
temptations into the ears of public servants willing
to become their private tools, like the devil in the
garden of Eden, "who squat like a toad close to
the ear of Eve."
The "gang" spots its man with remarkable
foresight, and year after year its power to man-
156 Chicago, Satan's Sanctum.
age public affairs to its own private advantage has
become more and more felt by the public.
For the first time in a generation, in this year
1899, it is believed an honest majority is in con-
trol of the council. The pleasurable fact is that
the majority was elected upon a non-partisan basis,
the recommendations of a civic body, as to the
honesty and capacity of the candidates in the sev-
eral wards, having been acted upon by the voters
in preference to those of party nominating conven-
tions.
It is, however, too early to predict a new era in
the history of the council. "All signs fail in dry
weather," and at this moment there are no indi-
cations of an approaching shower of "boodle." The
street car franchise question is drowsy and will not
be awakened until the corporations controlling the
lines are ready to do so. That they will not do
so until some legislation is enacted in 1901, is too
apparent to require an effort to prove. For one
year at least there is a majority in the council
which will, it is hoped, protect public rights; and
it is also hoped that in 1900 this majority will not
Chicago, Satan's Sanctum. 157
only be retained, but also greatly augmented. Pro-
jects may be hidden which in the near, or not dis-
tant, future, will come forth to plague the con-
sciences of a number of newly admitted mem-
bers and put their integrity to the severest of
tests.
The power of the Common Council, as confided
to it by legislation, over the affairs of two millions
of people, is too immense to be wielded by a sin-
gle ordinance making body. Under our form of
municipal government it controls the finances and
the property of the city, regulates licenses to sell
liquor and to carry on various classes of business,
such as auctioneers, distillers, grocers, lumber yards,
livery stables, money changers, brokers, junk stores,
billiard, bagatelle and pigeon-hole tables, pin alleys,
ball alleys, hackmen, draymen, omnibus drivers,
carters, cabmen, porters, expressmen, hawkers, ped-
dlers, pawnbrokers, theatres, shows and amusements,
and many other classes of occupations.
Its power over the uses to which the streets
may be applied is, in one sense, limited; in another
almost unlimited. While limited by the charter to
158 Chicago, Satan's Sanctum.
the power to lay them out, open, widen and improve
them, prevent encroachments and obstructions there-
on, Hghting and cleansing them, its power to reg-
ulate them is almost unlimited. "To regulate" the
use of the streets is a broad power, and while sev-
eral distinct grants of power of regulation are con-
tained in the statute, such as preventing the throw-
ing of ashes and garbage upon them, their use
for signs, sign posts, awnings, etc., the carrying
of banners, placards, advertisements, etc., therein,
the flying of flags, banners or signs across them
from house to house, or traffic and sales upon
them, nevertheless, the uses to which they may be
applied in the way of business enterprises for ad-
vertising purposes, are as numerous and as varied
as the minds of the originators of the schemes are
original and unique.
For the right to use, therefore, in a given way
in a given ward, the "gang" alderman long ago
established and still maintains a schedule of rates.
They are graduated from the insignificant charge
for permission to "string a banner," or establish
a fruit stand, up to the highly respectable "rake
Chicago, Satan's Sanctum. 159
off" demanded for the use of them for switch
tracks, or street railway purposes. It is not so
many years ago that a leading morning newspaper
furnished the public with some information on
this subject, upon the occasion of the passage of
an ordinance granting valuable privileges to a
railway corporation. Four members of the coun-
cil, not the "Big Four" of olden times, but the
modern "Big Four" leaders of "de gang," were
said to have received for their manipulation of the
ordinance, and the organization of their followers
for its support, the quite comfortable sum of $25,000
each. Their supporters were to receive $8,000
each for their votes, while the "go between" re-
ceived $100,000 and a few city lots. The standard
price per vote for valuable franchises is $5,000, yet
in a pinch of private necessity, a few votes can be
commanded at lower figures. The contingency of
a possible veto is provided for, so that in that event
one-fourth must be added for the second vote to
pass the measure over the veto. Thus it has
gone on not only with respect to street railway
grants, but also for electric lighting, telephone con-
i6o Chicago, Satan's Sanctum.
duits, gas pipes, private telephone wires and that
long list of uses devised by business men for the
advertisement of their personal interests. The pea-
nut stand privilege, the fruit stand privilege, the
bootblack privilege, the banner privilege, all pay
cash to some "gang" alderman, as do the policy
rooms, pool rooms and saloons with wine room
privileges.
It is an amusing, as well as an instructive sight,
to witness a meeting of the council upon an occa-
sion when some well announced "boodle" ordinance
is called up for passage. The plan of campaign
has all been arranged beforehand, and the floor
leader selected to command the movement. Let it
be an ordinance for granting the right to a street
railway company to lay down its tracks, and oper-
ate its line, in a given street. The preliminaries
have all been gone through with, the signatures of
property owners verified, and the price to be paid
for favorable votes agreed upon. When the ordi-
nance is taken up its opponents are generally in
a disorganized condition. There is among them,
as a general rule, no coherence of opposition. The
Chicago, Satan's Sanctum. i6i
main object to be attained, viz., the defeat of the
ordinance as it is presented, is lost sight of in the
effort "to make records" by the introduction of
amendments, reflecting some individual idea of the
member who offers it, without having submitted it
to his associate opponents for their judgment. Con-
sequently they disagree among themselves and fall
to fighting each other, thereby weakening their op-
position. Meanwhile the "gang" sits smilingly by,
under instructions to vote down all amendments.
When one is offered, of comparative unimportance,
the quick-witted lobbyists of the corporations, Jew
and Gentile, convey a tip to the leader of the
"gang" that the amendment "is all right," "quite
agreeable," "will be accepted," etc., whereupon the
gang's leader obligingly informs the chair that it
is his profound belief the amendment is a very
proper one, and it is graciously accepted. The op-
position having some little encouragement, present
■other amendments, which are, of course, defeated.
Somtimes debate is permitted. If the speeches
could be reported verbatim and the words spelled
out as pronounced, it would make Mr. Doolev
1 62 Chicago, Satan's Sanctum.
reflect on the style of modern oratory, as pre-
sented by the "mimber from Archey Road." The
question coming to a vote upon the passage of the
ordinance, the roll call begins. From the "Bath
House" on the right comes, on the first call, the
familiar "Aye." That response is repeated by
every member of the gang without explanation,
and in a stolid way, indicating contempt for public
opinion. The measure is now out of the way.
Preparations are made for the next. Settlements
have to be made and everybody satisfied before new
matters involving "boodle" can be presented. Oc-
casionally there is a loud "kick" by some slow-
witted member who fails to secure his full share
of the "swag," but he is usually placated in some
manner best known to the combination, and busi--
ness goes on in the old way. The division and
distribution of the "boodle" are matters of great
secrecy and adroit management. It is forced into
the pockets of some, or finds its way into them in
mysterious ways. It is discovered under a plate
at a restaurant, or under a pillow at bedtime; but
it seldom passes into the open hand, held rear-
wards, as the caricaturist pictures the "boodler."
Chicago, Satan's Sanctum. 163
A newspaper thus spoke of the members of the
council belonging to the party it represents. "The
average representative in the city council
is a tramp, if not worse. He represents or claims
to represent a political party having respectable
principles and leaders of known good character and
ability. He comes from twenty-five or thirty dif-
ferent wards, some of them widely separated, and
when he reaches the City Hall, whether from the
west, the south or the north division, he is nine
cases out of ten a bummer and a disreputable who
can be bought and sold as hogs are" bought and
sold at the stockyards. Do these vicious vaga-
bonds stand for the decency and intelligence of the
party in Chicago?"
■This is a picture drawn a few years ago, but it
correctly sketches a number of the hold over
members of the present council, and a few of the
old timers re-elected.
The new members of the council, one-half in
number, are committed, by their ante-election
pledges, to the policy of refusing the grant of
privileges to individuals or corporations without
i64 Chicago, Satan's Sanctum.
compensation to the public. Whatever of benefit
the pubHc may derive from this poHcy, it is not
quite clear that it will operate as a preventive of
"boodling." The ingenuity of the "boodler" com-
bines the cunning of the sneak thief, with the
boldness of the highway robber in devising the
ways and means to find and secure his "stuff."
It is a matter of congratulation that the bood-
ling species is dwindling away from the public
view. How long it will remain in concealment
depends upon how long the independent voter wishes
to keep it concealed.
The department of the city government to
which is committed the control of its public im-
provements consists of a number of bureaus. The
Commissioner of Public Works controls, as part
of his executive department, the City Engineer,
Superintendent of Streets, of Street and Alley
Cleaning, of Water, of Sewerage, of Special As-
sessments and of Maps. When it is considered
that this means the care and management of i,iii
miles of improved and 1,464 miles of unimproved
streets, 112 miles of improved and 1,235 miles of
Chicago, Satan's Sanctum. 165
unimproved alleys, making a total of 3,924 miles
of streets and alleys, the letting of contracts for
their repair, improvement and cleaning, and all the
details of engineering, sewerage and water pipe
extension bureaus, involving the expenditure of
millions of dollars, the vastness of the public
interests entrusted to the Commissioner may be
realized. Under every administration the depart-
ment is assailed for frauds, stuffed pay rolls, fa-
voritism and boodling. The administration now in
power (and which has been in power for two
years) has not escaped criticism. Powerful as that
criticism was, and founded in truth as it was,
it apparently did not affect the minds of a ma-
jority of the voters. Contracts were let by this
administration, in direct violation of the law which
provides for a letting to the lowest bidder, after
advertising for bids, where the amount is in
excess of $500. Yet a political favorite, who was
himself at one time spoken of as a probable ap-
pointee to the office of Commissioner, but who
stepped aside, as it is charged, as the result of a
deal, obtained thereby a contract for street repairs
i66 Chicago, Soman's Sanctum.
amounting to $230,000, which was never adver-
tised for, but let to him privately in such a manner
so that the vouchers in payment were drawn in
sums less than $500 each. So grossly evasive of
the law was this transaction, that it involved the
stoppage of payment of the warrants by the Comp-
troller of the city. A re-measurement of the work
was ordered by him. This developed the astonish-
ing fact that, even if the contract had been prop-
erly let, there was nevertheless an overcharge,
swindling in its nature, to the extent of $60,000.
The Comptroller was, therefore, compelled to with-
hold his sanction to the payment of the vouchers.
In some manner, however, they were paid after
some slight reductions were made. This was a
blow at the sterling integrity of the Comptroller,
whose public services in thoroughly reorganizing
his office, and placing it on a business basis, and
whose devotion to public interests cost him his life,
are the only conspicuous acts, free from shame,
egotism, or corruption, of an administration to
which he loaned the strength of his good name, and
upon which he shed the splendor of his ability
Chicago, Satan's Sanctum. 167
and personal honor. He will be long remembered
as the one oasis in a desert of maladministration.
Both in private and in public walks Robert A.
Waller lived an honorable life. He died mourned
by all who knew him.
"His life was gentle, and the elements
So mixed in him, that Nature might stand up
And say to all the world : This was a man !"
The attempt to let the contract for the use of a
tug for service to the cribs, or water intakes, in
the lake, was another breach of the law so fla-
grant, as to attract public attention for a time. Its
consummation was prevented by the threat of court
proceedings, which, at once, led to the insertion of
an advertisement for bids. But here again fraud
was attempted. The specifications were so drawn
as to call for boats of certain dimensions, exact
compliance with which was almost impossible, ex-
cept to one towing company to which originally
the contract was about to be let without a bid.
This company's bid was $13,000; the lowest bid
was $3,500. Still the city authorities hesitated
to award the contract to the lowest bidder, but
1 68 Chicago, Satan's Sanctum.
public opinion, and the known ability of the bid-
der to fulfill his contract regardless of his boats'
dimensions, compelled the letting to him, thereby
saving to the city the sum of $9,000. Vouchers
about which there was a doubt as to their legality,
have been paid to a contractor, who was appointed
a brigadier general of volunteers, but who resigned
the appointment immediately, it is said, for busi-
ness reasons, or because he could not be assigned
to a pleasing command. These vouchers amounted
to $50,000, and their payment, it is rather unchar-
itably said, induced the gallant contractor to be-
come an independent voter. There is no differ-
ence between the manufacture of an independent
voter in this manner, and his manufacture by put-
ting him on the pay-roll without work. This method
seems to have been adopted by the public works
department of the city government, following, per-
haps, an old precedent.
The purchase of water meters, under specifi-
cations with which only one company could com-
ply, and the laying of water pipes without letting
contracts in a lawful manner, are notorious in-
Chicago, Satan's Sanctum. 169
stances of unblushing frauds committed by this
department. It is almost incredible that a dynamo
should be bought in parts, so that it could be pur-
chased from a friend, and paid for in sums less
than $500; yet this was done. Thus a piece of
machinery having a fixed price as a whole, was not
only purchased illegally, but paid for in such a
manner that its price, as a whole, was doubled
when bought in pieces. So it was with other elec-
trical apparatus; so it was with the protection to
fire hydrants. Instead of advertising for bids for
the work of shielding the fire hydrants from the
severity of the winter's cold, they were divided up
into companies like those of a regiment of sol-
diers, each having its contract commander, who
received his pay on vouchers each calling for less
thati $500. The present commissioner is an old
politician, who has held several oiificial positions.
It is but just to say of him, that, with the general
public, he bears a good reputation. His political
enemies are not by any means complimentary in
their allusions to him, those particularly in the
ranks of his own party. He is energetic, self
lyo Chicago, Satan's Sanctum.
confident, amiable, and a particularly able bluffer
when occasion demands it. Without being pro-
found he is efficient, and without being remarkably
efficient, he is not at all valueless.
The Civil Service Commission has reached its
present age, nearly five years, after suffering all
the diseases incident to poor nursing. It is not by
any means a vigorous child as yet, but as it gains
in strength it will perhaps grow in wisdom. When it
recognizes the fact that the people permitted it to be
born, it will also recognize the further fact that its
parents require of it obedience to their wishes.
They demand the enforcement of the Civil Ser-
vice Law as it is written, for the public good
and not for partisan advantage. They would im-
press upon the commission the conviction of their
belief that without a properly administered civil
service law, municipal government is a menace to
republican institutions; that without it the experi-
ment of municipal ownership of "public utilities" is
hazardous, and that the increasing intelligence of
the people and their wider knowledge of the science
of government have taught them that the political
Chicago, Satan's Sanctum. 171
maxim, "to the victors belong the spoils," is a
relic of the barbaric days of politics, in which
wide open primaries, stuffed ballot boxes, captured
polling places, and thugs were the governing ele-
ments of elections.
The civil service law was placed upon the
statute book at the instance of those who had
made the study of municipal government a duty,
and who from that study realized that the growth
of great cities, in population, material wealth and
industrial development, demands commensurate
changes in the manner of governing such com-
munities. The basic principle of the law is the
elimination of the spoils system, and the substi-
tution of the merit system. The banishment of
the professional politician, that individual who lives
upon the spoils of office, is a result certain of
accomplishment under the proper administration of
this beneficent statujle. Foreseeing this result, the
professionals in all parties united against it
and have sought, and are still seeking, to
undermine its provisions and destroy its utility.
The law was put into operation by a board
172 Chicago, Satan's Sanctum.
of commissioners not one of whom had ever been
an active party man. No body of men ever met
for the performance of a public duty, who were
less tainted with partisanship than were these gen-
tlemen. They studied the law carefully, and ac-
quainted themselves with its text and its spirit.
Their selection was satisfactory to the public, and
was a guarantee of honest endeavor to place the
affairs of the city under the control of the law's
terms, in all the departments to which those terms
applied, and which could be brought within the
classified service. They formulated adequate rules,
after consultation with able men familiar with the
workings of the federal civil service law. Open
to criticism as some of these rules were as being
more theoretical than practical, nevertheless they
were built upon the basis of selection by merit
alone, regardless of politics, and were adapted
solely to that end. For two years it adhered to
the law, enforcing against the party to which the
majority of the commissioners belonged a rule
which required that no person holding an office
which fell within the classified service could take
Chicago, Satan's Sanctum. 173
an examination for that position without resigning
the position. The law continued to work during
1895 and 1896 as smoothly as new machinery can.
In the Spring of 1897 a new city administration
came into power of a different political com-
plexion from that under which the law was placed
in force. It was then found, to the amazement
of the public, which, however, in the hurly-burly
of life soon subsided, that these commissioners were
incompetent. One placed his resignation in the
hands of the Mayor and was almost immediately
appointed to the office of comptroller by that officer.
The efficiency of his service in his new office, and
the quality of his character, have already been
referred to in these pages.
Suddenly the same Mayor addressed the late
associates of the Comptroller as follows, viz. : "You
will please take notice that I have elected to, and
I do hereby remove you from the position of
Civil Service Commissioner in and for the City
of Chicago for the following causes. First : You
are and have been in your performance of the
duties of said office incompetent. Secondly: In
174 Chicago, Satan's Sanctum.
the performance of said duties you have been
guilty of neglect of duty." A new commission
was appointed, which proceeded to reverse the
rule above referred to, whereupon nearly all the
employes of the city were discharged. No ex-
aminations having been held for these positions
there was no eligible list from which to select
their successors. Consequently, in such a case,
appointments were made under a section of the
statute to fill the vacancies for sixty days, during
which time examinations were held to obtain an
eligible list. These appointments were, of course,
all made from the Mayor's party. He could not
do otherwise in view of the public utterances he
had made during his campaign, when he said if
he retained any employes appointed under a prior
administration of a different political belief, "it
will only be for menagerie purposes."
When the examinations were held and a list
certified, it was found that in every instance the
sixty day men passed at its head. Such a uni-
formity of results was in itself evidence of a dis-
regard of the law. From the highest position for
Chicago, Satan's Sanctum. 175
which examinations were held, down through all
grades, to the lowest, such as barn men, the sixty
day man was always marked up to the head of the
list.
During the years 1897 and 1898, no less than
seven different persons were selected as civil ser-
vice commissioners, until a board was found
willing to act upon the Mayor's interpretation of
the statute. One instance of the abuse of the law
will suffice to show the methods resorted to, for
the purpose of selecting a party man to fill a
vacancy in office. An examination was held
of applicants for the position of "foreman of
street lamps repairs." The man who passed at
the head was a sixty day man. At thirteen
years of age he became a sheet metal worker's
apprentice, and with the exception of a short
period when he was engaged in keeping a saloon
and made a failure of it, he continued to follow
that occupation. He is a heeler for one of the
most notorious of the aldermanic gang. It will
be observed in contrasting the questions asked him,
and those asked his superior, an applicant for the
176 Chicago, Satan's Sanctum.
office of Superintendent of Street Lamp Repairs,
that a lower degree of educational qualifications
is required of the Superintendent, that of his sub-
ordinate, the foreman of the gang of repairers.
These questions were propounded to the foreman,
viz. :
"If the hypothenuse of a right angle triangle
is 35 feet and the base 21 feet, what is the
altitude ?
At 30 cents a square yard what is the cost of
lining with metal a cubical room 13 feet long?
If it takes eight men five and one half days
to make 100 lamps, how long will it take six men
to make 350 lamps?
A building is 302 feet high ; the walk and
court measure 90 feet ; what is the length of a
straight line running from the top of the building
to the opposite curb?
At 25 cents a square yard what is the cost of
a sheet of iron sufficient for the construction of a
cylinder pipe closed at both ends 28 feet long,
the diameter of whose base is 28 inches?
What is the capacity in gallons of a sphere 15
inches in diameter?
Chicago, Satan's Sanctum. 177
If 24 gallons of water flow through a 2 inch
pipe each minute' how many gallons will flow
through a 3 inch pipe under the same conditions?
What is the length of the diameter of a circle
whose area equals 1.386 square yards?
Name the materials used in the construction of
a street lamp?
Name three essential qualifications requisite for
a foreman ?"
A street lamp could not be repaired, as a mat-
ter of fact, by a person unable to answer these
questions ! This truth must be apparent to any
unbiased mind !
All the other applicants could answer the last
two questions only, simply because they were hon-
est ; but the metal worker answered them all, and
was marked 100, although he had not been at
school since he was thirteen years of age, and
does not appear to have been much of a student
since that time.
The Superintendent's examination ran as fol-
lows, viz. :
"What are the duties of Superintendent of
Lamp Repairs?
178 Chicago, Satan's Sanctum.
What experience have you had to qualify you
for this position?
How many lamps should a tinner complete in
a day?
How many signs should an etcher complete in
a day?
If a special assessment were levied and con-
firmed, what would your duty be to secure the
erecting and lighting of the lamps?
On what part of the city property should those
posts be set?
If posts were to be erected how would you
determine what class of posts would be required?
What is the general duty of Superintendent of
Lamp Repairs regarding repairs to lamps?"
The attacks on the civil service law come from
all sources. A party convention in 1898, in its
platform said, "We pronounce the Civil Service
Law inefficient, mischievous and hostile to the
regnant principles of popular government. We de-
mand its repeal."
The next convention of the same party re-
solved : "We pledge the party to the strict
enforcement of this, the Civil Service Law."
Chicago, Satx\n's Sanctum. 179
The Mayor's consistency and that of his party
are identical. If the two removed commissioners
were incompetent and neglectful, so must the third
have been, and yet that equally incompetent and
neglectful commissioner was appointed to an office,
the very highest in the gift of the Mayor.
Acting upon the demand of his party for the
repeal of this law, the Corporation Counsel began
his attacks upon it by a multiplicity of opinions
calculated to gradually remove it from the statute
book. Ordinances were passed in accordance with
these opinions, creating new heads of departments
and exempting them from the civil service rules.
Positions, filled by civil service appointees, were
abolished. The same positions were re-created
under a new name, filled by a sixty day man who
was then examined, and certified to the head of
the list. The police department, the city treasurer,
and other branches of the local government which
have attempted by judicial proceedings to emas-
culate the civil service law, have in every instance
been foiled by the decisions of the Supreme Court.
The Special Assessment Bureau of the board
i8o Chicago, Satan's Sanctum.
of public works, has for many years, in conjunc-
tion with the alderman, had the origination and
passage of ordinances for paving streets, laying
sewers, sidewalks, drains, water supply and service
pipes, etc. Under a law recently enacted, and now
in force, all ordinances originate with a board,
named the Board of Local Improvements. The
right of petition on behalf of the property owners,
is a feature of the new law which smiles at the
property owner, while it "winks the other eye."
It holds out a hope, as do other provisions of the
law, of reduced assessments, but, so far, the prac-
tical benefit to the owner of real estate has not
been made apparent. Since the year 1861 and in-
cluding the year 1897, the enormous sum of
$90,402,790.44 has been levied upon real estate for
the payment of public improvements. During the
year ending December, 1891, the amount levied
was over six millions of dollars, and during the
following year ending December 31, 1892, just
preceding the World's Fair, the assessments
reached the sum of over fourteen millions of
dollars. Reference has alreadv been made to
Chicago, Satan's Sanctum. i8r
frauds in the letting of contracts for street im-
provements. They are spht up and let to favor-
ites without advertising, so that each payment will
fall under $500, although the improvement may
be a mile in length. The asphalt ring is just as
potent as ever. It fights every effort of other
dealers in asphalt to procure a contract and it
generally succeeds in foisting upon the people its
quality of asphalt at a higher price than that
offered at a lower price, by other bidders, perhaps
equally as good in quality and which has been
successfully used in other cities. Failing recently
to stampede the board, the ring accepted contracts
at a figure submitted by its competitors. This,
however, is a familiar trick of trusts, and will
last for a very short period of time, unless the
board manifests a disposition to consider the merits
of the material of competing contractors. The
ring will not abandon its struggle so easily. It
is powerful, uniting in its behalf the combined
efforts of politicians of all parties, who are con-
nected with the asphalt corporations as stockholders
and officers. The Board of Local Improvements
i82 Chicago, Satan's Sanctum.
not long since made the announcement that it was
preparing to levy special assessments during the
coming year to the amount of $10,000,000. The
people may weep and protest, while the contractor
smiles and urges.
The one department of the city government,
unsurpassed by any of its kind in the world, is
the Fire Department. The officers and men are of
the best material, of the highest courage, and serve
under the strictest discipline. They are fire fight-
ers, not politicians. Their chief is a man of
independence of character, honest, taciturn, a strict
disciplinarian — a general in command of a corps
of which he is justly proud. He tolerates no
political interference with his men. In this respect,
particularly, he is, always was, and always will
be sustained by the entire community. Any at-
tempted management of the department which
would tend to lessen its efficiency meets with the
chief's stern resistance. Aside from his own moral
and physical courage, his admirable sense of duty,
and the fact that the public honor him and sup-
port him, he has the powerful assistance of the
Chicago, Satan's Sanctum. 183
board of underwriters in any case of damaging
intermeddling with his command. Knowing his
worth and the merits of his department that inter-
meddhng would bring, instantly, a threat of the
rise in insurance rates from this board, a threat
which would touch the pockets of many property
owners, and consequently one which would solidify
them in support of the chief. He shares with
his men the dangers of their calling. The gallant
men, who during the past year lost their lives in
saving the property and lives of others, testified
by their sacrifice to the hazardous nature of that
calling. A recital of the heroic deeds of those
men would not be surpassed by the stories of
gallantry in the field of battle with which the
pages of American history are replete. While
Dennis J. Swenie's strength holds out he will com-
mand his famous batallions to his own honor, and
to that of the city of which he is so faithful and
loyal a citizen.
Even the possibility of his being supplanted in
his command, which appeared recently in the failure
to reappoint him at the first opportunity afforded
i84 Chicago, Satan's Sanctum.
the ]\Iayor, aroused the people to a united protest,
which, indications prove, was timely and effective.
The omission to send his name to the council with
the first of the Mayor's appointees, may have
been, as it was claimed- "accidental," but it is
nevertheless the belief that that omission was in
the nature of a test of public opinion. If so, the
power of public opinion retained him in command,
despite political purpose to the contrary.
With the exception of this department all the
others of the city are merely run on political lines,
as adjuncts of the political party in power, not-
withstanding the civil service law. The abuses of
that law may become fewer in number, not
through any merit of the present board, but be-
cause it has about exhausted itself in filling all
the offices with men of one political faith by
means already explained.
The departments of the County government
under a feeble civil service law, different from that
applicable to the city, are conducted in the same
manner as those of the city for the benefit of
machine politicians and their regiments of ward
Chicago, Satan's Sanctum. 185
and township workers. Tlicy arc as corruptly
managed as those of the city government.
The institutions at Dunning for the insane and
the poor, are generally managed by ward pol-
ticians, whose appointments are in the nature of
a reward for party services, or rather, services to
some particular boss. Recent reports of grand
juries note some improvement in their conduct.
On the whole, however, they are regarded in the
nature of spoils by the ring of party loafers,
whose views of government consist, mainly, in
doing the greatest good to the greatest number of
the ring.
The traffic in dead bodies, or "cadavers" goes
on, as it did when exposure came about a year
ago through detected shipments to the State of
Missouri for the use of a medical college in one
of the towns of that state. These pauper dead
"escape," in the language of the employes, from
the "killer" ward in which they are stored, a place
selected to lay out a corpse suited for the dissect-
ing table. It has been a matter of more than
rumor and given currency by the press, that sub-
i86 Chicago, Satan's Sanctum,
jects for the dissecting table are selected before
the breath has left their bodies. This statement
finds more or less verification in the disclosures
of the Missouri case before alluded to.
Contractors for county supplies pay a percent-
age of their prices to a county ring, and, conse-
quently, a poorer quality of food, fuel and medi-
cines, is furnished to these institutions than the
contracts call for, which cost the contractor an
additional sum by way of boodle to obtain them.
The sheriff's ofifice has had a standing shame
for many years in the cost of dieting prisoners.
The county board allows the sheriff for dieting,
twenty-five cents a day for each prisoner confined
in the county jail. The cost of a day's dieting is
estimated not to exceed ten cents, according to
the greed of the sheriff. From this one source
alone the sheriff's office is regarded as one of the
most lucrative offices in the county. The excess
above the actual cost is clear profit to the sheriff.
Some of the bailiffs of the courts have been
discovered within the past year as jury bribers,
willing to take any side offering the most lucrative
Chicago, Satan's Sanctum. 187
terms. The principal in this disreputable business
fled, and now an unseemly quarrel is raging be-
tween the city's detective department, and the sher-
iff's and state attorney's office as to which was to
blame for that escape.
The judges of the Courts of Cook County are
men of integrity. Some are able jurists, but of
late years the standard for judicial qualifications
has been, through party machine nominations, con-
siderably lowered. These judges are charged by
the law with some duties the nature of which is
purely political. Thus, the selection of justices of
the peace for the city, the poor man's court, is
confided to them. No scandals, so far, have at-
tended the exercise of this duty, but their selec-
tions have not, as a general rule, earned the
confidence of the people. '"]. P." means nowadays
one who will give judgment for the plaintiff. The
evil practices, the frauds and swindles, which have
their origin in the system now prevailing for the
conduct of justice courts, has given rise to strenu-
ous efforts to reform them by state legislation. This
will ultimately be accomplished. While the mem-
i88 Chicago, Satan's Sanctum.
bers from the rural districts, in each recurring state
legislature, are difficult to manage, in the one ses-
sion of their term in the lower house in matters af-
fecting a large city, nevertheless, when fully in-
formed, they have granted such remedial legislation
to Chicago for which its civic bodies have made timely
application.
A new revenue law has just gone into opera-
tion, designed to abolish the inequalities of taxation
which grew up and were fraudulently fostered un-
der the repealed law. What its effect will be it
is difficult to predict. The personal property hold-
ers, those with long lines of stocks, bonds, valu-
able house furnishings, large bank accounts, and
concealed wealth, are very likely to feel unkindly
towards the stringent provisions of this law. They
have been evading their just share of taxation for
years. They are today the most ignorant of the
many people calling at the assessor's office to make
out and verify under oath their respective sched-
ules, simply because it is so many years since they
were called upon to pay a personal property tax,
that they have forgotten all about the form.
Chicago, Satan's Sanctum. i8q
The holders of large real estate interests, who,
for years, have been paying assessors to exempt
them from assessment, or reduce their valuations,
are, also, most probably confronted with the im-
possibility of escape from paying their proper share
of general taxes. This iniquitous system has been
denounced in the press for years. A year ago
a town assessor was convicted of the offense, and
heavily fined by the court. The tax evaders are
as vicious a class in a community as are sneak
thieves. Their payment to assessors to low^er their
valuations is the worst species of corruption. The
payrolls of the town assessors present the most
consipcuous instances of corruption to be found in
any department of the county, or city, govern-
ment. Many men are carried on their pay rolls
and paid from five to ten dollars per day who
never do one moment's work in the making of the
assessment. They are simply being nursed for
political purposes. In one of the wealthiest towns
a payroll fell under the writer's observation, which
showed a clear steal of $2,200 for a period of tw^o
weeks only. These officials designated a personal
igo Chicago, Satan's Sanctum.
friend to whom all money was paid. One-fourth
of these payments were handed over to the "solic-
itor" who brought in the "business," one-fourth to
the "friend," and the remaining one-half ' went to
the assessor. Men in high station in national and
state councils, state and national committeemen, city
and county officers, lawyers, politicians and sport-
ing men were engaged in this business of boodling,
throwing upon the owners of small real estate in-
terests more than their fair share of the burdens
of taxation. In an address delivered in this city
by an ex-President of the United States, he said
that as Lincoln had declared this country could
not exist half slave and half free, so he declared
"it could not exist half taxed and half free" from
taxation, that the sin of tax evasion was a new
danger to the integrity of the Republic and that its
evil lay in the "evasion of Just taxation by the
rich, and the consequent thrusting of an extra
burden on the poor." The corporations engaged
in the manufacture of gas, in the management
of traction companies, of live stock exchanges, of
packing companies, railroads, steel companies, sleep-
Chicago, Satan's Sanctum. 191
ing car builders and merchants owning large
landed properties, have had their agents regularly
employed in procuring a reduction of their valua-
tions for assessment, who were nothing more nor
less than bribers. Whether these crimes will be
as freely attempted under the new law remains
to be developed, but some of the distributors of
personal property schedules are again playing their
old trick of taking money from the poor under
promise of returning them as non-holders of tax-
able personal property. An arrest of one of these.
robbers, who had accepted one dollar from each
of a number of women has been made. The
men elected as assessors and as members of the
board of review are men of good character and
able judgment. The only indication of danger is
that a political boss who has lived and thrived at
the public crib and whose political methods have
always been unscrupulous has been appointed chief
clerk of the board of review. His salary is large
enough to keep him out of temptation, if he has
not forgotten the ways of the righteous. He was
an expert "adjuster" in politics. In assessments
192 Chicago, Satan's Sanctum.
the "adjuster's" occupation should now be gone.
The difficulty lies in teaching an old adjuster new
tricks. The old system of assessment for general
taxation was denounced by an official of the county
as "nothing more nor less than a gigantic legal-
ized swindle, reeking in corruption, a harbor for
'grafters,' 'petty thieves,' and' sharks,' and an
enormous, unnecessary and galling burden on the
tax payers, the expense of which has no justifica-
tion in reason and should have none in law."
The new system abolishes but one of the evils
of the old. In place of town assessors, a board
of five assessors is established whose work is sub-
ject to review by another composed of three mem-
bers. Their labors are, in turn, passed upon by the
State Board of Equalization, before which for
years railroads and other corporations have had
their adjusters, agents or brokers, and before which
they will continue to appear and accomplish, as
they always have accomplished, the placing of the
lowest possible valuations upon railroad proper-
ties, and a reduction of capital stock valuations.
The board of assessors now values all the real estate
Chicago, Satan's Sanctum, 193
in Cook county in place of the assessors in the sep-
arate towns within the county.
These towns, six of which are wholly within
the city limits, are, through their officials, plun-
derers of the public, robbing the funds of the
towns by increasing their salaries out of all pro-
portion to the services they are required to render,
and which could well be dispensed with to the
greatest advantage of the people. In the year 1898
they cost the treasury $395,411.55. Absolutely noth-
ing is apparent as the result of this looting of pub-
lic funds. They occupy, in the business parts of
the city, expensive offices, which are open for pub-
lic use not to exceed four months in the year,
and afford, for the remaining months, club accom-
modations for the hangers on of the political
crooks who manage party affairs. Card playing
and gambling are their principal occupations. In
the division of the proceeds of the robbery, the
justices of the peace participate. They are, by vir-
tue of their offices, members of the town board.
Their services are not worth ten dollars per annum,
but they receive compensation ranging from _ $200
to $500 per annum.
194 Chicago, Satan's Sanctum.
As illustrating the tendency of these town boards,
from which the assessment of property for tax-
ation has now been taken away, the following are
the valuations of real estate and personal prop-
erty for the past three years as equalized by the
state board. The foundation for the assessments
was laid by the town assessors. It will be observed
that, notwithstanding the increase in population, the
value of real estate and personal property has been
steadily declining. The decline is a measure of the
boodling propensities of the assessors. Their per-
centage of award "no fellah can find out."
VALUATIONS FOR ASSESSMENT.'
1896. 1897. 1898.
Real estate. ..$195,684,875 $184,632,905 $178,801,172
Personal prop-
erty 34-959.299 33.594-167 29,601,393
Population,
school census 1,616,635 1,851,588
The value of the taxable real estate in Chicago,
according to these figures, decreased in two years
$18,883,703, and the value of taxable personal prop-
erty $5,357,906. During the same period the pop-
Chicago, Satan's Sanctum. 195
Illation increased 234,953. As wealth and popula-
tion increase in Chicago, values of property de-
cline. At ten per cent of its cash value, which is
the basis adopted by assessors for years for taxa-
tion value, taxable real estate in Chicago is, in
round numbers worth $1,788,000,000.
It is impossible to average the per cent paid for
reductions in valuations to the assessors. Of the
eighteen millions in reduced valuations in 1898,
as compared with 1896, it is safe to say five mil-
lions were purchased. As the rate of taxation was
between nine and ten dollars on one hundred dol-
lars the amount of taxes paid by those who should
not have paid them was $500,000. The assessors
were "not working for their health," but for about
fifty per cent of the taxes saved to their princi-
pals, with the aid of the friend and the agent
who brought the business, or say about $250,000 of
"graft."
The coroner's ofiice is also one which not in-
frequently gives rise to scandals. There are open
charges made that some of the juries, called by
that official, have found exonerating, instead of
196 Chicago, Satan's Sanctum.
incriminating, verdicts for a money consideration in
the division of which the office participated. An
unseemly quarrel between the coroner and the
police revealed the fact that both have favorite
undertakers to whom the bodies of those meeting
sudden death from accident, or otherwise, are
taken. In a dispute as to which should control
a corpse a most painful truth became public that
it was carted about from one undertaking estab-
lishment to another, and that even the law was
invoked to obtain possession of it by means of a writ
of replevin.
The office of the recorder of deeds is one of the
most important in the county aflfairs. Generally
speaking it is well conducted, although its records
are not as presentable to the eye as are the
books of a first-class mercantile firm. Female
labor is employed mostly in recording, i. e., spread-
ing an instrument at large upon the records, while
male labor keeps up the tract books, indices, etc.
The employes of both sexes are favorites of po-
litical bosses. The abstract branch of the business
of this office is a sublime failure For years it
Chicago, Satan's Sanctum. 197
has cost the county a large sum of money to make
good the deficiency — expenses largely exceeding earn-
ings. Its abstracts cannot compete with those of
private corporations, which employ experts in that
business, and pay them in proportion to their
ability, merit alone being their recommendation.
The abstract makers employed by the county are
shiftless and incompetent. The Torrens system, or
the registration of titles, will, in time, but not for
many years to come, supersede the abstract system,
but not until the public shall have gained more
confidence in its merits than it has yet acquired in
recorder's abstracts of title.
It was not the purpose of these pages to pursue
inquiry into the corruption existing in both the mu-
nicipal and county governments. The primary in-
tent was to refer to the vices and crimes which
prevail by reason principally of police partnership
in their joint proceeds. Both governments are cor-
rupt, and appear to be so because the people con-
sent they shall be corrupt. The lessons the pub-
lic learn from day to day, through the columns
of the press, are forgotten. When election day
igS Chicago, Satan's Sanctum.
approaches a revival of the facts through the
press is then charged to pohtical trickery, and its
charges of maladministration are disregarded as
being invented for party purposes. The press
condemns while the evils are prominent, then it
condones, and becomes the subservient and trucu-
lent supporter of the men who permitted vice and
debauchery to attain its stalwart growth. The
people believe there is a trust press, banded to-
gether to obtain favors through school leases, bank
deposits of public funds and personal appoint-
ments in return for services to be rendered their
municipal benefactors. The only non-member of
the trust is the organ of the street car corpora-
tions and such exposes of villainy as it may pre-
sent are set down as means to an end — the effort
to obtain public privileges without compensation to
the city. Newspapers, therefore, in municipal af-
fairs no longer lead public opinion. They cannot
again become its leaders until they free themselves
from the suspicion of conserving their own inter-
ests by the sacrifice of those of the public. The
greatest of them delivered but feeble blows during
Chicago, Satan's Sanctum. 199
the recent mayoralty campaign, while the lighter
weights, who were fighting for a candidate for re-
newed honors, had been for two years most un-
mercifully pounding him for his persistent assist-
ance rendered to the vicious classes, in their indul-
gence in crime and debauchery.
The various civic societies formed for the im-
provement of municipal government, pay attention
solely to matters removed from the insidious and
ceaseless advances of crime, close their eyes to evi-
dences of disease apparent on the body politic, and
merely dream of higher ideals. They leave to one
society the task of the suppression of vice. They
give to it neither sympathy nor pecuniary assist-
ance. It begs its way in meetings of its sympa-
thizers, warns the community of the prevalence of
crime and indecency, but the community rushes on
in the business struggles of the day from year to
year, trusting — as it always has trusted — in its pub-
lic servants for the full performance of their sworn
duties — a trust so constantly violated that munic-
ipal government has become merely the synonym
pf the rule of the criminal classes.
200 Chicago, Satan's Sanctum.
A special session of the Illinois Legislature was
called by the Governor in 1897. Among the sub-
jects included in the call was one suggesting the
passage of an act "to establish boards providing
for non-partisan police in all cities of the State
containing over 100,000 inhabitants." Pursuant to
the recommendations of the executive's message, a
resolution was passed by the Senate for the ap-
pointment of a committee of seven members of that
body, which recited the recommendation of the
Governor; that a bill had been introduced pro-
viding for the establishment of non-partisan police
boards in all cities containing the necessary popu-
lation ; that charges and scandals had arisen in
regard to the management of the police force in
Chicago, and that the committee be clothed "with
full power to act" and to investigate "fully the sub-
ject" and report its findings as early as possible to
the Senate at the special session.
The committee consisted of one people's party,
one democratic senator and five republican sena-
tors. From the moment of its selection it was
branded as a partisan committee, appointed not so
Chicago, Satan's Sanctum. 201
much to obtain information which would enable
an unbiased judgment to be formed upon the
merits of the proposed bill as to accumulate po-
liticaJ capital for the use of the republican party.
The committee proceeded with its investigation,
and on February loth, 1898, submitted its report,
which was adopted February 15th, 1898, by a vote
of thirty-three republicans and one democrat, eight
democrats voting in the negative. The only dem-
ocrat voting in the affirmative was a member of the
reporting committee.
On the last day of the special session, no legis-
lation having been enacted on the subject of the
proposed bill, a resolution was introduced pro-
viding for a continuance of the committee, which
recited that it had "unearthed a most deplorable
state of affairs in the management and control of
the police force of Chicago," and that "the most fla-
grant violations of the civil service law have been
brazenly practiced by those in authority in control
of that police force." Nothing resulted from the
latter resolution continuing the committee.
The report covered the investigations of the
202 Chicago, Satan's Sanctum.
committee into the operations of the civil service
law, and the manner of its enforcement, finding
that it was a plaything in the hands of the party
then in power, and an object of constant and
premeditated attack. It also found the grossest
abuses in the management of the police pension
fund and in the workings of the police force as
an organization. That crime was protected and
lewdness tolerated by it, and that in fact it was
a powerful ally of the criminal classes, and prac-
tically made an unofficial livelihood off unfortunate
women of the town, thieves and their fences, gam-
bling resorts and their keepers, and the patrons
and keepers of the all night saloons. It found the
Chief of Police was cognizant of the facts, and
yet took no steps to correct them. That Chief
from whose testimony quotations appear in these
pages, was re-appointed to command the police
force for the next two years.
The findings of this committee made but little,
if any, impression upon the public mind. There
were no revelations as to the condition of crim-
inal affairs, and the relations of the police there-
Chicago, Satan's Sanctum. 203
with, which were new to the people, with the pos-
sible exception, perhaps, that it was not known
how utterly inefficient and irresponsible the Chief
of Police was. From that moment every news-
paper has, if not demanded, at least suggested his
removal from office. In this respect it but voices
the sentiments of the entire community. It is a
paradox why, in the face of this public feeling, a
majority of the people supported for re-election the
staunch friend of the dishonored head of the police
force, unless upon the hypothesis that he would
not continue to be a part of the new adminis-
tration. If so, the hypothesis soon failed. The
Mayor thought he would "hold him for a while."
The lesson to be learned from the failure of
this committee's report to attract public attention
to the prevalence of criminality and obscenity in
Chicago as fostered by the police force is this,
that an investigation concerning the methods of
government of a city administration controlled by
the Democratic party, without a kindred investiga-
tion of the methods of a county administration
controlled by the Republican party is too partisan
204 Chicago, Satan's Sanctum.
to suit the sense of fair play and of justice enter-
tained by every American citizen. It matters not
that the order for the investigation had reference
only to the passage of legislation for the regula-
tion of the police force in cities of a certain popu-
lation, and that, therefore, the scope of the inquiry
was limited by the terms of the order. Perhaps
it was as broad as it could have been made, un-
der the governor's call, which, by the provisions
of the constitution fixed the subjects upon which
only legislation could be enacted in special session.
Either the call should have been broader, or this
particular subject matter should have been omitted
from it, and left for the regular session's con-
sideration. Then all matters pertaining to the man-
ner of conducting both city and county affairs
could have been investigated free from the delimi-
tations of an executive call. Nevertheless, the fact
remains that the report of the Berry Committee,
as it was called, is a stinging indictment against
the police force of Chicago, which sooner or later
must be tried at the bar of public opinion. It
will, in a measure, have blazed the way for a
Chicago, Satan's Sanctum. 205
new committee of inquiry, whose sittings have
just commenced, in so far as the poHce depart-
ment is concerned.
The Baxter Committee was formed under a
resolution of the Senate. It consists of five re-
pubHcan and two democratic senators. The reso-
kition refers "to the management and control of
the police affairs" of Chicago, and "the conduct of
the municipal government thereof, in reference to
the expenditure of public money and the enforce-
ment of the law in its several departments." This
language would limit the scope of the committee's
inquiry to city affairs only. The resolution, how-
ever, closes with words granting authority to the
committee for a "full, complete and perfect inves-
tigation of any and all the said subject matters
herein named, and such other subjects as they may
deem wise and prudent to investigate in the in-
terests of good government."
If this committee is wise it will not confine
its efforts to ascertaining how the city govern-
ment is managed. It will command public ap-
proval if it will extend its inquiries into the affairs
2o6 Chicago, Satan's Sanctum.
of the county government as well. This the com-
munity will demand ; with less it will not be sat-
isfied. The great mass of both parties is con-
cerned with what will be of the most advantage
to good government, not with what will be to the
greatest advantage of either party. Hence, if this in-
quiry has in view a partisan purpose its sessions will
merely reproduce tales of the street familiar to the
ears of the people, and with which the legislature has
been familiar for a decade. To associate these crimes
and debaucheries with one administration will in
one respect be unfair, because they have progressed
under other administrations as well, but it can
emphasize the one great and astonishing truth,
that never in the history of the city has a police
force been permitted to become the bed-fellow of
these monstrous evils, to protect them and contrib-
ute to their overwhelming power, in such a shame-
less, openhanded and defiant manner as it has
in the past two years, as it is still permitted to
do, and as it will probably be permitted to do, for
the next two years.
That committee will find nothing in these pages
Chicago, Satan's Sanctum. 207
unknown to the observing citizen. The great mass
of the people read and forget. These evils are
hinted at herein, and gathered together. They may
impress those who are unaccustomed to taking
notes of passing events. That the growth of crime
in Chicago, and the prevalence of bestiality is not
generally believed by the majority of its people is
a self-evident proposition. It would be an insult
to their intelligence and virtue to assert they
knew the facts. It is not a criticism of their in-
telligence to say they do not, know the facts. It is
rather to their credit that in the pursuit of their
business, the care of their homes, and the cultiva-
tion of their morals, they judge the great com-
munity in which they live by their own standard,
and firmly believe that as they know themselves to
be good citizens, they believe their fellow men are
likewise good citizens. While they rest in this
conviction vice is eternally at work, immorality
undermining and crime attacking the power of
government, capturing one and then the other
of its strongholds, until today the criminal classes
constitute the balance of power in every city elec-
2o8 Chicago, Satan's Sanctum.
tion, and can handle it as they may choose, by the
mere concentration of the voting strength of the
keepers of eight thousand saloons and their hang-
ers on.
The appointment of a comptroller and corpora-
tion counsel acceptable to the public, both being
men of sterling integrity, and known ability, is
merely a partial promise of reform. The new
comptroller is a worthy successor to the deceased
Waller, while the new corporation counsel takes
his office, with a reputation for probity and legal
acumen which are guaranties that neither will be
used in an attack upon the people's laws. But
the police department and the public works de-
partment are still under the same direction. They
give no promise of departing from the protection
of criminals on the one hand, nor the illegal let-
ting of contracts on the other. Both of these are
inviting fields for the Baxter committee to explore,
and when they shall have thoroughly done so, if
they shall turn their attention to county affairs,
they will probably find pastures just as prolific of
the rankest of weeds.
Chicago, Satan's Sanctum. 209
The Baxter committee began its hearings on
the 1 8th day of May, 1899. I^s opening witness
confirmed the truth of many of the facts set forth
in these pages. He paid protection money for
keeping a gambHng house, until the demands for
a contribution to a campaign fund became too ex-
acting, when he was "told he had better quit."
"As an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of
cure," said the witness ; 'T quit."
He testified that gambling was going on every-
where a few days before the committee began its
w'ork, named a number of the resorts, and related
some of his losses in a few of the games in which,
although a professional gambler, he was "skinned."
Officers were found in them, and protection to
the games openly boasted of. The club organiza-
tion, it develops, is the gambling idea of evading
the laws, the theory being that none can gamble
unless they are members. The practice seems,
however, to be that every man is a member who
will not squeal. Houses of disrepute were visited,
and the indecencies alluded to in foregoing pages
witnessed by the sergeant-at-arms of the commit-
2i6 Chicago, Satan's Sanctum.
tee. His testimony in this respect was too real-
istic for publication.
A member of a recent grand jury submitted a
list of all night saloons he had visited, and found
doing business, between the hours of one and five
o'clock in the morning. The list contained the
names of forty-six saloons, located on eleven dif-
ferent streets. His information was not as start-
ling as was the fact that his joint feat of pedes-
trianism and absorption of drink is, perhaps, un-
equalled in sporting or drinking records. He drank
in each of the places visited — total drinks, forty-
six in four hours. Length of route covered four
miles ; width, about one-half mile ; square miles trav-
ersed — two! Can any sprinter, carrying the same
weights, surpass this achievement?
The witnesses so far called before the commit-
tee are mostly from the detective force, and from
among lodging house keepers. Their replies are
evasive, and when not so, their memories are
clouded. All they had ever known of the subjects
upon which they are interrogated had fled from
their recollection. "I don't remember," avoided many
a pitfall.
Chicago, Satan's Sanctum. 211
The methods of the committee do not impress
an observer as having been the result of much con-
sultation or careful preparation for their work.
There is an apparent indifference on the part of
some of its members to reaching results, or to
remaining steadily in the pursuit of the purposes
for which it was organized. Political influences
are undoubte'dly at work to shorten the lines of
its inquiry, and the length of the days it shall
devote to their development. This investigation is
not wanted by local politicians of either party. It
rests with the committee alone to determine whether
its work shall be well done or not. To maintain
the dignity of the State is their first duty, let their
investigation reveal what it may and strike whom
it will.
A people who volurltarily submit to taxation
for the construction of such a stupendous im- ,
provement as the drainage canal costing $28,000,-
000 , who apply their surplus water fund to the
building of a complete system of intercepting sew-
ers, who compel the abolition of the murderous
grade crossings, through the elevation of railway
212 Chicago, Satan's Sanctum.
tracks, all for the improvement of the sanitary
condition and safety of their homes and lives, are
entitled to the best protection the state can give
them against the domination of criminals and de-
bauchees, even if the management of its police
force should thereby be placed in the hands of
state agencies, or under some other supervision
which will compel it to dissolve its relations with
vice, and prevent it from utilization for f)oliti-
cal ends.
Submission to the exactions of trusts, in the
shape of telephone and gas companies, does not
require them to submit to a trust of criminals
and police officials. The element to which it is
estimated $70,000,000 is annually paid in Chi-
cago for its drink bill, must be so regulated, as
that it shall cease to furnish the balance of power
in elections, to exercise a baneful influence over
the police, to ruin the young, to encourage de-
bauchery, and breed criminals. A municipal gov-
ernment that cannot, or will not, control these vi-
cious agencies, will ultimately be condemned by a
public-spirited people, if they can be, as they sooner
Chicago, Satan's Sanctum. 213
or later will be, persuaded to devote a few hours,
taken from their business or pleasure, to a vigorous
uprooting of a system under which such iniquities
can be born and develop to such menacing pro-
portions. There must be an awakening to the fact that
"They say this town is full of cozenage,
As, nimble jugglers that deceive the eye.
Dark-working sorcerers that change the mind,
Soul-killing witches that deform the body,
pisguised cheaters, prating mountebanks,
And many such like liberties of sin."
APPENDIX.
From the daily press a few accounts are culled,
and added by way of appendix, as to the perpetra-
tion of crime and the habits of the police in connec-
tion with it.
The Baxter Committee unearthed the following
account of the degree of protection afforded to
citizens by police officers, and the easy-going in-
difference with which the Chief of Police regarded
the affair when it was first called to his atten-
tion.
On the night of March 3d ult. a woman re-
turning from a drug store was stopped by two
detectives and charged with soliciting men upon
the streets. She denied this offensive charge, told
where she had been and where returning, and
showed a bottle of medicine she carried as con-
firmatory of her statements. This happened about
8 45 o'clock. She was then within twenty feet
of the entrance to the house in which she lived.
2i6 Chicago, Satan's Sanctum.
Notwithstanding her denial, the officers went to
the house with her. One of them then said, "I'm
an officer; open this door!" Another woman with
whom the arrested woman was boarding asked,
"What is the matter?" One of the officers rephed,
"This woman was on the street sohciting," to
which the boarding house keeper rephed, "You are
mistaken." "Well," said the officer, "if you want
to stop her give me $15," and the reply was, "She
has no money to give you or to any one." The
boarding house keeper, thinking the men were com-
mon thieves, then whispered to the accused woman,
"Go with them and I will follow you." The offi-
cers took their woman to a corner and into a saloon,
where they compelled her to give up a pair of
diamond earrings for ten dollars which were handed
to her by the bartender. The boarding house
woman followed, and prevented the detectives from
obtaining the ten dollars, but finally they grabbed
the bill from the accused woman's hands. The
women were then released and returned to their
home. Taking a sealskin sack with them they re-
turned to the saloon, and were handed the diamond
Chicago, Satan's Sanctum. 217
earrings, but not without leaving the sack in their
stead. The women saw the detectives return, and
drink at the bar, paying for their tipple with the
money they had snatched from the hand of the one.
While the parties were wrangling on the street
a police sergeant and two officers in uniform passed.
One of the women cried out, "Here are two men
robbing this woman !" The sergeant replied, after
observation, "I have got nothing to do with this."
One of the women asked, "What are you for?"
Then the sergeant, having discovered the men were
detectives, said to one of them, "They are all right.
Get w^hat you can." The sergeant then left.
The women now demanded that the detect-
ives show their badges of authority. They were
shown. Demand was then made that a patrol
wagon should be called. This w^as denied, but
accidentally one came along the street returning
to its station. When the accused woman caught
sight of it she fainted. The boarding house keeper
raised such commotion that one of the detectives
said, "For God's sake, shut that woman's mouth
up or she will make us trouble!" They then
ran away.
2i8 Chicago, Satan's Sanctum.
The next day the boarding house woman called
on the Chief of Police and told the whole story.
He referred her to the Lieutenant at the station
of the precinct in which the indignity occurred.
To him the entire facts were given, and written
down by the desk sergeant. The men were there
identified.
On the following day one of the detectives
went to the women's house, accompanied by a
brother-in-law, whose wife was a personal friend
of the boarding house woman. The detective had
a copy of the woman's statement as she had
made it at the police station. He begged for
mercy, crying, "he had nothing to say for him-
self." He piteously pleaded he had a mother in
the hospital, a mother-in-law who was dying, and
three small children to support. Suggestions were
made, and the woman's feelings worked upon so
that she was induced to leave the city.
Meanwhile the boarding house keeper made a
statement at another police station, in which she
suppressed the facts as to the diamonds and the
money. She was asked to appear before the police
Chicago, Satan's Sanctum. 219
trial board, and refused. Thereupon the charges
against the detectives were dismissed.
It -developed before the Baxter Committee that
the Chief of Police had been told all the facts. The
papers got hold of an account of the affair, and
the Chief called upon the boarding house keeper.
In the course of his conversation, this woman try-
ing to protect the officers through her aroused sym-
pathy, was asked by the Chief, "What about those
diamond earrings and sealskin sack?" The woman
answered, "If you don't know, I don't." He then
asked, "Didn't you tell that to me?" She answered,
"If you can't remember, I can't." She was then
questioned by the Chief whether these officers were
begging her to quash the matter, whether they
were offering her money for that purpose, etc.
The Chief stated the reporters were hounding
him to death, when the woman asked him "why
he did not show her statement?" He replied it
was locked up, "if they want any information they
can get it from you."
One of the men is still a member of the de-
tective force. The other resigned and went into
220 Chicago, Satan's Sanctum.
the saloon business, and appeared before the com-
mittee entering a partial denial of the woman's
story. The knowledge of the Chief of all the
facts was fully shown before the committee. Not-
withstanding this, he does not appear to have
taken any steps to keep the matter before the
trial board, or to institute any other proceed-
ings to bring these detectives to punishment.
This is not at all surprising in the face of the
fact that this officer is, as is shown in court pro-
ceedings, a veritable czar in his own estimation.
The following account is taken from the Chicago
Democrat of May 27th ult. A similar report of
the case is contained in the other dailies.
"Jndge Brentano held, this morning, that Chief
of Police K. did not have the power to have a
man restrained of his liberty at his (K.'s) request.
The decision was brought about on the hearing
of a petition for a writ of habeas corpus filed
by Attorney F. A. D. for the release of Edward
H., who was arrested last Monday morning at
Twenty-ninth and State streets on account of the
shooting of Officer James S., which resulted from
Chicago, Satan's Sanctum. 221
an attempt of a number of officers to enforce
the disarmament-of-colored-people policy of the Chief
of PoHce.
"The man had been confined in the county jail,
and the return of the sheriff, when the prisoner
was brought into court, read : 'Edward H. has been
detained in my custody at the request of J. K.,
Chief of Police for the city of Chicago.' Judge
Brentano evinced great displeasure when he read
the return of the illegal detainment of the prisoner.
'A man,' said the court, 'cannot be held at the
simple request of K. or any other person. K.'s
word is not sufficient to keep any man in custody.
I won't tolerate any such actions, for if the man
was guilty of shooting an officer, or committing any
other crime, Mr. K. has had sufficient time and
knows how to take the proper steps to punish
the prisoner.'
" 'The court certainly would not allow this man
his liberty when he is under arrest and has not
been booked or complained against before a jus-
tice of the peace owing to the neglect perhaps of
such a high official as Mr. K.,' remarked the assist-
ant city prosecuting attorney.
222 Chicago, Satan's Sanctum.
" 'I certainly would, regardless of whose neg-
lect it is,' said the court. 'The prisoner is dis-
charged.'
"No witnesses were heard, the prisoner being
discharged on the ground that it was shown in
the return of the sheriff that H. was simply being
detained to please Chief K.
"Attorney D. had witnesses in court to show
that the prisoner had been beaten and injured
by the police who arrested him, both before his
arrival at the Twenty-second street station and
after he was installed in a cell at that place.
"Prisoners who were in the station at the time
H. was taken there were in court to testify that
the officers who had charge of the prisoner beat
and struck him in such a' manner that they
thought H. would be killed.
"The prisoner's face and condition in court
were the best evidences of the treatment he
had received.
"Both of his eyes are closed, swollen and dis-
colored to such a degree that they stand out in
bold contrast to his own color, which is a dark
Chicago, Satan's Sanctum. 223
copper. Two gashes, each six inches long, on
the top and front of his head bear testimony to
the means said to have been used by the offi-
cers in carrying out their chief's new disarmament
poHcy.
"It is also alleged that the prisoner was confined
in a dungeon cell while he was in the custody of
the Twenty-second street police.
"After his discharge the injured man had to
be helped to the elevator by two of his friends
because of his injuries. The names of the officers
who assaulted the prisoner were not obtainable,
for the reason that the prisoner had not been
booked and the officer making the arrest had not
signed any complaint."
Two observations will arrest the attention of
the average reader. They must naturally occur
to his mind. First, What sort of a Sheriff is
he who will keep a man in jail, without a proper
commitment? Second, What kind of a lawyer must
he be who will suggest to a court the propriety
of depriving a man of his liberty, without due
process of law, at the mere request of such "a high
official" as the Chief of Police?
224 Chicago, Satan's Sanctum.
The return of the Sheriff in this case to the
writ of habeas corpus should have been treated as
a contempt of court.
Pool rooms are operating as of yore. The Daily
News of May 27 ult. contains the following, viz. :
"The saloon of J. H. D. at E. and N. C. streets
was converted into a pool room yesterday after-
noon at the time the ticker began to record the
winning horses in the races at the various tracks
throughout the country. A dozen men assembled
in the barroom where the ticker was located and
placed bets, while a number of women sat in the
back rooms and also chanced their money.
"The women's wants were looked after by a
young man who answered to the name of 'Dude.'
After each race he carried them the slip printed
from the ticker showing the winners and handed
their money to those who had been lucky. Dur-
ing the interval between the races the schedule of
the next race was discussed by all who intended
to place money, and 'Dude' would come from the
rear room with a handful of bills to place on
some race by the women.
Chicago, Satan's Sanctum. 225
"On the inside money was passed over the bar
indiscriminately and a clerk was busy keeping
track of those who placed bets. From the con-
versation which passed between those in the bar-
room one might judge that he was in a gen-
uine poolroom, where the interference of police
was not to be feared.
"All the men present merely gave their initials
when they risked their money, and these were
carefully preserved on paper until the ticker de-
cided whether the money was lost or won. The
man who passed as 'Dude' had charge of the pools
apparently, and all the money which was placed
went through his hands. After taking it he would
call the initials of the man placing the bet and then
hand the money to the man behind the bar.
The ticker was presided over by a large, smooth-
faced, well-dressed man and anything which came
over the machine which was not a report on a
horse race was of no interest. The reports of the
score at the various ball games were soon shown
the waste basket, while the lists of the horses
which earned places were preserved and hung
226 Chicago, Satan's Sanctum.
on hooks after they had been carefully inspected by
those present.
A number of stylishly dressed women were seen
to enter the place, and, according to informa-
tion furnished the Daily Nezvs, women have been
in the habit of visiting the D. saloon for some time
for the purpose of placing bets on the races. Two
young women came from the direction of L. S.
avenue about 4 o'clock and entered the place ap-
parently as though it was nothing new to them.
"The 'ladies' entrance' is on the E. street side.
The rooms for women are arranged in the east
half of the double-flat building on E. street, while
the saloon faces on C. street.
"]. H. D., who conducts the place, came in yes-
terday afternoon while the betting was at its
height, and, bedecked in diamonds, walked leis-
urely behind the bar and, picking up a Racing
Form, turned to the 'boys' and asked how 'things
were going.' He was told the winners in the races
which had been reported during his absence and
seemed pleased with what was told him.
"The saloon is known as 'D.'s O. P. C.,' and
has been conducted at this place for the past five
Chicago, Satan's Sanctum. 227
or six years. The license for the place is in the
name of Mrs. J. H. D. It is said that D. was
formerly in the saloon business here, but sold out
and went to New York, where he put on a vaude-
ville show and sunk several thousand dollars try-
ing to make it pay. He finally failed, it is said,
and came back to Chicago and reopened his saloon.
"At the Chicago avenue police station noth-
ing was known apparently of the gambling at
the D. saloon on the races. Capt. R. said that he
told a couple of his men some time ago to watch
the place, but he said they had reported nothing
irregular. The captain seemed surprised when he
heard of how affairs were, and Inspector H. was
apparently very indignant at the thought that any-
thing of the sort was going on in his district. He
at once gave the captain orders to send a couple
of men to the place and if anything was found to
be going on there to stop it."
The result of the visit of the Inspector's officers
is thus stated in the Tribune of May 28th ult.
Its headline is suggestive, in view of the particu-
lars given in the Daily Nezvs of the occurrences by
its reporter.
228 Chicago, Satan's Sanctum.
"REPORT NO GAMBLING."
"A report that a poolroom was being conducted
in the saloon of J. H. D., E. and N. C. Streets,
was investigated yesterday by Detectives B. and R.,
who visited the place at 3 p. m., and reported no
gambling existed there. It was said that during
Friday afternoon bets on the races were accepted
in the saloon and that men as well as women fre-
quented the place."
The newspapers contribute evidences of the ab-
sence of crime in Chicago, and of police operations
as follows, viz. :
From the Daily Nezvs May 27th ult.
"Officers from the Attrill street police station are
scouring the west side in an effort to apprehend
burglars who created havoc in the vicinity of
Humboldt Park boulevard and Western avenue dur-
ing the early morning hours of yesterday. Among
the residences visited by the night prowlers were
those of: (Here follows a list of eleven bur-
glaries. )
"In addition burglaries at the following places
in the immediate neighborhood have been commit-
Chicago, Satan's Sanctum. 229
ted within the last few days: (Here follows a list
of four burglaries.)
"One of the burglars rode from house to house
on a bicycle. Two revolvers dropped by the vis-
itors were found in the yard of the E. residence.
The territory sufifering the nightly raids is em-
braced in the suburb of Maplewood, and citizens
have armed themselves in their own defense,
asserting that police uniforms have not been seen
on the streets concerned for weeks."
From the Democrat May 27th ult. :
"Burglars forced an entrance into the store of
the Guarantee Clothing Company, State street, last
night and stole nearly $1,000 worth of goods.
"Apparently the thieves took their time, and the
police say they must have used a wagon in remov-
ing the goods. Persons living in the flats above
heard nothing unusual during the night, and the
police are unable to comprehend how the thieves
could remove the great amount of property v\^ithout
attracting attention.
"This morning a clerk opened the front door of
the store. It looked as though a small cyclone had
passed through the establishment."
230 Chicago, Satan's Sanctum.
This burglary took place between two police sta-
tions, from neither of which it was far distant.
It is probable that if one officer had gone over
his beat just once that night, its perpetrators
would have been caught in the act. Some neigh-
boring saloon was, perhaps, more needful of police
protection!
Some tremendous effort is being made, however,
to suppress policy shops and clean out all night sa-
loons ! Witness the following, viz. :
From papers of May 27th ult. :
"Detectives D. and D. of Chief K.'s office raided
a policy shop in the basement of the building at 6
Washington street last night and destroyed the fix-
tures of the place and confiscated the sheets, records
and other paraphernalia.
"The shop was in a small room under the side-
walk and was reached through a barber shop. S. H.,
the police say, was the agent in charge of the place,
and represented the O. R. & G. company of Fort
Erie, Canada. No arrests were made, but Chief K.
says the place will remain closed."
"Two hours after midnight Sergt. M. and Offi-
Chicago, Satan's Sanctum. 231
cers M., O'B., H. and F., from the Harrison street
police station, raided the C. L. saloon at State
street, arresting sixty inmates. The majority of
these were boys. There was one man with gray
hair and wrinkled face.
"Shortly before the police court convened at 9
o'clock the entire crowd \vas marched into Inspector
H.'s office and from there to the courtroom, where
the cases were disposed of by Justice M. Every
sort of a plea generally used in court was
brought into play by the defendants. Some
cases were dismissed, while other prisoners were
fined $25 and $50. The police claim about half of
those arrested were criminals.
"The arrests were made because of the large
number of complaints against the saloon."
The raid on the policy shop belongs to the
spasmodic line of operations of the police. Fifty
of them could be made if some mysterious reason
did not exist why they are not made.
The saloon referred to belongs to the all night
class, and is one of the most notorious of the kind.
It has been protected in the past, and still would
232 Chicago, Satan's Sanctum.
be if it were not for the fact that "a large number
of complaints" have been made against it. These
are not new to the police. They have been made
before, but something must be done for appear-
ance sake Vv^hile the Baxter Committee continues
its probing! That this place was a resort for crim-
inals is not a recent discovery by the police. They
always knew it
To cull the press for proofs of the truth of the
charges made in the foregoing pages, would result,
in a few days, in the reproduction of a mass of
evidence on the total inefficiency of the police force.
Such as are here given are examples of the many
the scissors could find.
The reader can multiply them, in his mind, ten
fold in a week's time, and then reach a result far
short of the facts.
The whole story of the alliance between the police, the
saloons iiiul the justices is told in the following cartoon taken
from the Daily News of June 23, lb99.
CAUGHT COMING AND GOING.
THE DIVEKEEPER (to Harrison street police officer)—
"I've got uiy dollar a head out of them. Now you can drive
them into court and give the justice his chance."
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